[Via Satellite 12-18-2015] Japan\u2019s political shift to enable greater non-aggressive defense capabilities could further spur the country\u2019s competencies in space, and tighten relations with the United States, experts believe. In a panel discussion hosted Dec. 10 by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation<\/b>, influencers in U.S. and Japanese space policy pointed out ways Japan\u2019s new freedom in pursuing defense technology could lead to greater collaborations between the two nations.<\/p>\n
Japan and the U.S. are already strong allies in many regards, but joint activities in space have largely been limited to the International Space Station (ISS). Though this involvement is not to be downplayed \u2014 as Japan is the only South Asian member of the ISS; the country is, and has been capable of increasing its presence in space through new satellites.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil 2008, no use of space for national and international security purposes was allowed,\u201d said Setsuko Aoki a professor at Keio University <\/b>who is an expert on outer space law. \u201cFor instance, the Self-Defense Forces of Japan <\/b>(JSDF) couldn\u2019t own or operate satellites. But now the Self Defense Forces are planning to have three X-band defense communications satellites, and the first of which is to be launched probably next year, and by 2020 Self Defense Forces is to have three such satellites [in orbit].\u201d<\/p>\n
Aoki also highlighted Japan\u2019s Information Gathering Satellites (IGS), a remote sensing program that is now allowed to capture higher resolution imagery. Prior to the 2008 political reform, Japan was limited to resolutions available to civilians. Aoki said that with this constellation, expected to grow to 10 satellites, Japan can share resources with its signature ally: the United States. Japanese satellites also provide an opportunity for resiliency by distributing payloads on multiple spacecraft. Aoki said this is feasible in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow Japan can use outer space for international and national security purposes, so hosted payloads with an ally is possible,\u201d she said, adding that interoperability should also be a focus. \u201cJapan can complement GPS capability by using Japan\u2019s Quasi Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), and Japan is going to have seven of such by 2023. So the change of Japan\u2019s legal system from nonmilitary to non-aggressive, Japan can go into more peaceful uses of outer space to protect space,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
In a previous panel, Japan\u2019s Director General of the Office of National Space Policy <\/b>Yoshinori Komiya said that Japan\u2019s space industry grew in such a way that it was geared toward scientific work almost exclusively, resulting in an absence of manufacturing cycles that lead to industry growth. Masakazu Toyoda, chairman and CEO of the Institute of Energy Economics Japan <\/b>(IEEJ), and former secretary general of Japan\u2019s Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy<\/b>, reiterated this point saying that specifically eliminating defense from Japan\u2019s space capabilities prevented the nation\u2019s industry from amassing knowledge needed to make commercially competitive space technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore 2008 \u2014 before [the] Space Basic Law was enacted in Japan \u2014 security was not an area for cooperation, and because of that, commercial cooperation was not an area for substantiation, because if you are simply focused on the scientific area, you have to need to develop \u2018new technology, new technology, new technology\u2019 every time. So you didn\u2019t need the cost reductions, but with security, for instance, QZSS we are trying to have seven satellites, and by doing that we could reduce the cost of making satellites,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Toyoda said much of the collaboration between the U.S. and Japan is one-way, largely dominated by interactions where American companies supply components to Japanese companies. He said two bills making their way through the Japanese government on launch indemnification and commercial remote sensing could balance this relationship.<\/p>\n
Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute<\/b>, Elliot School of International Affairs <\/b>at George<\/b> Washington University<\/b>, said that Japan, as a co-equal partner with the U.S. and as a space fairing nation, can help build greater order among international regimes, particularly in space.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are the opportunities in space cooperation? The opportunities are not simply about doing more science and commerce, or even national security work, per se. The opportunities are to the extent we join together to be order-building powers in a world beset by disorder,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
At the conference, Space Situational Awareness (SSA) was an area repeatedly cited as an opportunity for the U.S. and Japan to team up. Topics include both space debris and concerns about anti-satellite technology, which in addition to destroying high value assets, would also exacerbate the debris issue. Here, Aoki pointed out that Japan has strengths of its own that the U.S. could benefit from.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is true that the United States has one of the best space surveillance networks, but yet because of geographic problems, there are some areas that SSA is not covering sufficiently, and that is above North East Asia. And here is Japan. Japan has capability, and of course it has to be augmented, but Japan has capability, intention, and geographical advantages for this point,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[Via Satellite 12-18-2015] Japan\u2019s political shift to enable greater non-aggressive defense capabilities could further spur the country\u2019s competencies in space, and tighten relations with the United States, experts believe. In a panel discussion hosted Dec. 10 by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, influencers in U.S. and Japanese space policy pointed out ways Japan\u2019s new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}