Japanese Space Program

Grey Havoc said:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120721002739.htm

The H-2B, which is designed to be launched once a year, is 56.6 meters high and weighs 531 tons, making it the largest rocket in the history of Japanese space development.

The cargo vehicle, weighing in at 4.6 tons, is carrying such supplies as food and other daily necessities, a water tank for feeding killifish and a device for releasing small satellites into space, the space exploration agency said.

The H-2B was jointly developed by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy for the purpose of carrying the Kounotori, which has a payload capacity of 16.5 tons. The rocket is twice as effective as H-2A rockets at launching satellites into orbit, JAXA said.

JAXA plans to develop a "homing version" of the Kounotori that will be used to return ISS equipment to Earth, JAXA officials said.

Like the H-2A, the country's mainstay rocket, the H-2B's first and second components are propelled through the reaction of liquefied hydrogen and liquefied oxygen.

Following the decommissioning last year of U.S. space shuttles, the Kounotori has been gaining international attention as a means of transporting large payloads into space, JAXA said.
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Regarding the Kounotori: New Kounotori spacecraft to handle multiple tasks (The Yomiuri Shimbun)
 
japansunmann.jpg

ORIGINAL CAPTION: Japan's unmanned cargo spacecraft, "Kounotori" is to blast off from the southern island of Tanegashima around 10:30 pm local time attached to an H-IIB rocket

http://phys.org/news/2016-12-japan-space-junk-collector.html​
 
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ORIGINAL CAPTION: Astroscale Japan Inc President Miki Ito poses with a model of the company's IDEA OSG 1, the world's first in-situ micro satellite, at the company in Tokyo, December 5 2016. REUTERS/Toru Hani

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-economy-entrepreneurship-idUSKBN1442XI​
 
http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Japan_aims_to_uncover_how_moons_of_Mars_formed_999.html
 
https://arstechnica.co.uk/science/2017/07/japanese-company-preparing-for-countrys-first-private-rocket-launch/
 
Michel Van said:
Grey Havoc said:
In global space race, JAXA to test ‘reusable rocket’ in 2019 (The Asahi Shimbun)
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nice 28 years after DC-X and 7 years after SpaceX grasshopper
but faster as ESA CALLISTO that should fly in two years
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In all fairness, in the wake of the DC-X Japan already tested a series of VTVL rocket demonstrators in the Reusable Vehicle Testing (RVT) program from 1998 until 2003, see for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reusable_Vehicle_Testing, so it's not exactly a brand new concept for them...

Martin
 
Satellites aimed at preventing space collisions under review (The Yomiuri Shimbun)

The government is considering introducing space situational awareness (SSA) satellites to protect Japanese satellites from collisions with space debris and interference by satellites operated by other nations, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

According to several government sources, launch of the SSA satellites, which are capable of monitoring an area in space, is being planned for a period from fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2028.

The government is making arrangements to have the National Defense Program Guidelines, the basic framework for the nation’s defense policy that will be revised at the end of this year, mention that “the entire government will be involved in efforts to significantly strengthen space situational awareness capabilities.”

SSA satellites monitor the movement of suspicious satellites, as well as space debris circling Earth at high speed — fragments of rockets, satellites that no longer operate, and other objects. If the SSA satellite recognizes a Japanese satellite is in danger, it will notify operators on the ground who can instruct the satellite to change its orbit and avoid a collision.

The government estimates each SSA satellite will cost about ¥15 billion, with each rocket launch costing from ¥5 billion to ¥10 billion, according to the sources.

[snip]
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Behind the Scenes / Company serious about launching rockets (The Japan News / The Yomiuri Shimbun)

The name of Canon Electronics has only been heard in space development circles in the last few years. The company was said to have been working on small satellites and small rockets, with the aim of getting into the space industry, but these claims were greeted with incredulity.

Last summer, interest in the company suddenly perked up. Canon Electronics established a planning company to get a foothold in the overall space business.

Four companies joined together to co-found the planning company: IHI Aerospace Co., which manufactured the small Epsilon rocket; Shimizu Corp.; the Development Bank of Japan; and Canon Electronics, which provided 70 percent of the funding.

Significant progress was made on July 2 with the upgrade of the planning company to an operating company called Space One Co. The company then announced it would start rocket launching services in fiscal 2021, with the goal of achieving 20 launches per year by the mid-2020s.
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Grey Havoc said:
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Japan_firm_signs_with_SpaceX_for_lunar_missions_999.html
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A Japanese start-up is to send spacecraft to the moon in a deal signed with Elon Musk's SpaceX, the Tokyo-based firm said Wednesday.

Private lunar exploration company ispace said it would blast a lander and rovers towards the moon on a SpaceX rocket on two separate missions.

The spaceware will first orbit the moon in mid-2020, followed by a moon landing attempt set for mid-2021.

It comes a week after SpaceX confirmed Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will be the first man to fly around the moon on a SpaceX rocket as early as 2023.

"We share the vision with SpaceX of enabling humans to live in space, so we're very glad they will join us in this first step of our journey," ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada said in a statement.

Hakamada also told reporters the company chose SpaceX as it is "highly credible" and "capable".

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in a statement that the company is "proud to have been selected by ispace to launch their first lunar missions".

Hakamada said he could not reveal costs for lunar programmes.

The company has already collected nearly $95 million from investors.

ispace, which now has more than 60 employees, competed as one of five finalists in the Google Lunar XPrize, which offered $30 million in prizes but ended with no winner.
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EDIT:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/18/09/27/051256/japanese-company-announces-long-term-plan-to-develop-the-moon
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/09/a-japanese-company-has-announced-a-long-term-plan-to-develop-the-moon/
 
https://youtu.be/ux10tNwYtqk
https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/space-robots/jaxa-wants-telepresence-robots-for-inspace-construction-and-exploration
 
ANA and Marubeni join to build spaceport in Japan (Nikkei Asian Review)

TOKYO -- All Nippon Airways operator ANA Holdings and trading house Marubeni will set up a spaceport in Japan as early as 2021, Nikkei has learned.

The launch site, equivalent to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft, will be for private space travel, and feature 3-km runways for craft that take off horizontally like airplanes.

There are already around 10 spaceports in the U.S. for commercial use, some built for the purpose and others converted from airports. The Japanese corporate alliance aims to secure a foothold in the international space-business race by building Asia's first space travel hub.
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http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20181113-a-samurai-swordsmith-is-designing-a-space-probe

B)
 
In relation to iSpace: https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/ispace-moon-billboard/
 
Forgot to mention this here before:
Grey Havoc said:
Speaking of GITAI:
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/GITAI_signs_joint_robotic_research_agreement_with_JAXA_999.html
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/19/03/27/2030214/gitai-partners-with-jaxa-to-send-telepresence-robots-to-space
https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/space-robots/gitai-partners-with-jaxa-to-send-telepresence-robots-to-space
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Building on their experience in sample return missions.

mmx-news.isas.jaxa.jp

MMX Mission to proceed to the development phase!

This afternoon (19 February 2020), the MMX mission transitioned to become a JAXA Project: an official step in mission development authorised by the Japanese government. The mission was previously in the Pre-Project phase, where the focus was on research and analysis, such as simulating landings to
mmx-news.isas.jaxa.jp mmx-news.isas.jaxa.jp
 
spacenews.com

Japan’s ispace updates design of lunar lander

Japanese company ispace has updated the design of its commercial lunar lander while delaying its first flight by a year.
spacenews.com spacenews.com

https://twitter.com/x/status/1296433988270280705
View: https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1296433988270280705


Japanese lunar lander startup ispace raised $28 million in its latest round led by Incubate Fund, Space Frontier Fund, Takasago Thermal Engineering and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance — bringing its total fundraising to ~$125 million to date.
ispace-inc.com

ispace

ispace is a private lunar robotic exploration company that is developing micro-robotic technology to provide a low-cost and frequent transportation service to and on the Moon, conduct lunar surface exploration to map, process and deliver resources to our customers in cislunar space.
ispace-inc.com ispace-inc.com
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