Is Japan The Next Space Superpower? | Unveiled

Is Japan the Next Space Superpower?

Right about now, the eyes of the world are firmly set on the vast expanse of space. History shows us how the US and Russia have traditionally fought it out, racing each other to various milestones in the first space race of the 1950s and ‘60s. But, today, there are so many space agencies vying for position… and Japan’s is quickly rising to the top.

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; is Japan the next space superpower?

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (or, JAXA) is a relative newcomer on the space travel circuit. While the first Soviet Space Program began launching in 1953, America’s NASA was formed in 1958, and India’s ISRO was formed in 1969, JAXA was founded in the year 2003. That said, it didn’t just spring up out of nothing. JAXA is actually the result of a merger, between three older organisations, all of which do date back to the 1950s and ‘60s… these were the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan, and the National Space Development Agency of Japan, and the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science.

With all those groups under one umbrella, though, JAXA has gone from strength to strength... although it did start with failure. The first two major events to unfold under its watch were a failed rocket launch in November 2003 (when JAXA was forced to destroy the rocket in question when a booster failed to detach)… and the confirmation of the loss of Nozomi one month later, in December 2003 (with Nozomi being a planned Mars orbiter, launched back in 1998, but one that failed to reach and report back from the Red Planet due to a series of faults). In the years since, however, JAXA has been to other planets, and to the moon, and has established a world leading Earth observation program, too.

Its most significant and successful venture to another planet (so far) is the Akatsuki probe, also known as the Venus Climate Orbiter. It was launched in December 2010 and although it took far longer than planned to enter into orbit around its target world, it did finally arrive above Venus in December 2015. The spacecraft has cameras peering at Venus across multiple wavelengths, and it’s paying particularly close attention to the Venusian cloud systems… and investigating the planet’s atmospheric super-rotation, which is a known phenomenon wherein Venus’ atmosphere rotates far faster than the planet itself does.

Regarding the moon, the Kaguya probe still stands as Japan’s leading light for lunar exploration. Also known as SELENE, this orbiter was launched in 2007, for a mission that ran for twenty months in total. In that time, Kaguya significantly contributed to the global effort to map the moon… including the far side of the moon, which until recently had remained shrouded in almost total mystery. Another notable Kaguya study, however, focussed on how oxygen from Earth is transported to the moon… further revealing to us just how at one with our moon we are.

JAXA perhaps most excels with near-Earth satellites, however. Like most space agencies, it has a number of communications and GPS satellites in orbit… but, also, in its short history it’s launched several satellites designed to look out at the rest of the universe. These include the x-ray telescope, Suzaku (jointly launched with NASA and operating between the years 2005 and 2015), and the infrared telescope, Akari (operating between the years 2006 and 2011). In general, space missions out of Japan have also made major contributions toward how we view our planet. There are (and have been) JAXA satellites to make better sense of Earth’s weather systems and climate - paying particularly close attention to global rainfall patterns and greenhouse gas levels.

But all of that’s only what JAXA has managed to achieve so far… and it has even bigger plans for the future. So, what can we look forward to from Japanese space technology in the coming years and decades?

One of its marquee missions is set to be the MMX probe, which will see Japan head back to Mars some twenty-six years after it first launched the eventually unsuccessful Nozomi probe. Currently scheduled to launch in late 2024, MMX stands for Martian Moons eXploration. So, in truth, it isn’t Mars itself that this JAXA machine is most interested in - it’s the moons of Deimos and especially Phobos. The plan is for the MMX to make flybys of Deimos, to study the smaller of Mars’ two natural satellites from afar… but it’s hoped that MMX will land on Phobos, to gather samples and send them back to Earth by the year 2029. While we do have suspected Martian samples found in various meteorites and collected from impact craters on Earth… nobody has yet to complete a purpose-built Mars sample-return mission from Earth. Neither to the planet itself, nor to the planetary system. There are other, similar proposals in place, fronted by (amongst others) NASA, Russia’s Roscosmos, and the European Space Agency… but, regardless, if JAXA were to succeed with MMX then it will have become a true pioneer for Martian exploration.

Japan’s headed for our moon in a similar way, too. The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (or, SLIM) mission has been close to launch for a while now, but has suffered a few delays. Nevertheless, it’s hoped that it will get off the ground sometime in the year 2022. It’ll represent the first time that JAXA has been to the moon’s surface, and the aim is for it to soft land within a targeted area just 330 feet wide. If successful, then, it’ll go down as one of the most accurate spacecraft that Earth has ever deployed.

Looking further ahead, though, there are yet more exciting initiatives and potential missions on the horizon… and perhaps the most exciting of all involves plans for a space-based solar power station. Again, NASA has also tabled space solar power plans in the past, but JAXA has emerged within the last decade as another potentially major player in this especially innovative field. Space based solar power may sound a lot like science fiction, but scientists are increasingly confident that the tech needed to make it happen could be possible in the real world. And JAXA reportedly has a goal to build a space solar power station by the year 2030.

What would this mean for us? Well, we already know of the increasing need to convert to clean, renewable energy options as soon as possible, and solar has already established itself as one of the most widely used and available ways to do this. But a solar power station in space takes us just that little bit closer to the source of all that power, the sun, and should result in a far more efficient means of collecting and harvesting the energy that our star gives off. There are clearly plenty of steps to take (and products to invent) before this could ever become the norm, but in theory it would mean a checkpoint of sorts for humankind in space, thanks to which all our future energy needs will be answered.

Really, it might’ve been somewhat difficult for JAXA to beat that in terms of future ambition, and yet there are plenty more projects in the works, too. Japan has famously and significantly been involved in operations on the International Space Station for decades now, with the first Japanese astronaut, Koichi Wakata, arriving at the ISS in October 2000. JAXA also has the Kibõ Module (otherwise known as the Japanese Experiment Module) built onto the ISS, completed in 2009. The JAXA Astronaut Corps already has a rich history, then, and is well placed for next generation goals.

Unlike with many other space agencies, a crewed moon landing isn’t said to be at the top of JAXA’s priorities. But there are early suggestions that Japan does have long-term plans for crewed Mars missions - or, at least, to participate in some way, as humankind as a whole looks to travel to the Red Planet. Indeed, JAXA has built much of its most recent success on striking up partnerships and collaborations with other agencies. For example, it will play a vital role with the upcoming Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (or JUICE) spacecraft, an ESA-led mission to the Jovian system.

Meanwhile, JAXA continues to innovate new ways to travel in space, full stop. Its IKAROS spacecraft - last heard from in 2015 - was the first to use a solar sail in space. And, in July 2021, JAXA staged the first successful test run of a rotating detonation engine - an engine-type that advocates say could usher in a new age of deep space travel using far less fuel. So, again, Japan is leading the charge.

All across the world map it seems as though space agencies and, of course, private space firms are improving as we enter into what’s shaping up to be an especially interesting and important time for space travel and tech. But, no matter what anyone else achieves along the way, that’s why Japan could be the next space superpower.