Japan’s Space Industry: A Story of Soaring Ambitions, Self-Destructing Satellites, and Hope

The Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies reported in 2019 that the Japanese space industry made over 343.1 billion yen (over $3 billion) in sales.[1] Noting the remarkable growth of Japan’s space industry, the International Trade Administration (ITA), whose aim is to make U.S. companies more competitive in the global arena, advised U.S. companies to work closely with partners in Japan. [2]  Working with Japanese agents, trading firms, and distributors would provide services that would help Japan realize its intergalactic ambitions.[3] Undoubtedly, this encouragement from the ITA is yet another manifestation of the growing level of cooperation between the U.S. and Japan in space technology and exploration. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) signed an agreement for Japan to contribute significantly to the U.S.-led Artemis program.[4] Artemis plans to sustainably deploy astronauts to the lunar surface within the next decade and build a Lunar Gateway to orbit the Moon.[5] In return for this collaboration, Japan hopes to be the first non-U.S. nation to land an astronaut on the Moon using NASA’s Space Launch Systems crew vehicle.[6] However, despite these promising developments within and without the Land of the Rising Sun, it has not always been smooth space sailing for Nihon 日本, and just as a series of triumphs marked Japan’s space race, so too have mission failures.[7][8] This blog post explores some of the promising developments and disheartening setbacks experienced by Japan’s growing space industry and the national legal framework that seeks to foster and support it. 

Japan’s Basic Space Law sets forth that the government must take all measures necessary to ensure that space development will be carried out “in order to improve the lives of the citizenry” as well as to “strengthen the technical capabilities and international competitiveness of the space industry and other industries of Japan.”[9] The Basic Space Law stipulates the same worthy goals for developing and using satellites and information systems and that all these advancements will be carried out per “the pacifism of the Constitution of Japan.”[10] However, while the law may provide a particular vision while simultaneously outlining some of the ways it will be realized, it is essential to note that the private sector in Japan has as much at stake as the national government in the space industry. In Japan, the market is dominated by four leading players: NEC Space Technologies; IHI Aerospace, which makes liquid-propellant rockets; Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), which manufactures solid fuel rockets; and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO). These four giants are undergirded by venture capital-backed startups such as iSpace (developing lunar landers and rovers), Astroscale (debris removal missions and demonstrations), GITAI (building robots to conduct tasks in space), and Axelspace (launching a constellation of microsatellites for observing the Earth).[11] 

So, when on March 7th, 2023, after confirming the H3’s second-stage engine failure, officials ordered Japan’s advanced rocket to self-destruct only briefly after its liftoff from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, alarm bells sounded within the government and across the private sector.[12] However, this should not phase the Japanese, for it is not the first time that the industry has suffered a setback. If anything, the current cosmonautic renaissance should make clear, even to the most hardened, unrepentant of defeatists, Japan can bounce back. 

In 1998, Japan sent the orbiter Nozomi (Hope 望み) to Mars to study the planet’s upper atmosphere.[13] Despite a successful blastoff from Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, Nozomi failed to reach Mars, and the mission was terminated by late 2003.[14] Although Nozomi never reached Mars, hope returned to Japan’s space industry in the aftermath of the two decades that followed. Today, Japan ranks second in the world in terms of public and private investment in space ventures, and that is only the tip of the iceberg.[15]

A boom is happening, and 60 or so companies in Japan are pursuing space programs beyond the aforementioned big players when only a decade ago, there were but a handful.[16] A partnership between toymaker Takara Tomy and JAXA resulted in the development of SORA-Q - a transformable, mini-moon rover robot inspired by “Transformers.”[17] Furthermore, Japan has launched nearly 100 satellites into orbit, with plans to place another 50 into orbit to track next-generation hypersonic missiles from 2023 through 2027.[18] Even a wooden satellite, meant to be less environmentally burdensome and a world-first, may launch this year as a result of a partnership between Kyoto University and Sumitomo Forestry Co.[19] If the plan succeeds and wood proves durable in space, even children may be able to construct satellites to be launched into outer space, according to the program’s director, astronaut Takao Doi.[20]

With mini robot transformers and quaint wooden satellites, Kawaii かわいい, the culture of cuteness that is pervasive in Japanese society, seems to have passed through the exosphere and into outer space.[21] However, it is not in Kawaii where the Japanese government or private investors need to find solace after H3’s failure. Instead, it is in the tale of Nozomi the orbiter, the success that followed its demise, and the more fantastic saga of the Creator’s eternal gift of 望み, esperança, hope – where they will find any assurances they need. The only way to truly self-destruct is not by pressing a button but by losing Nozomi.

[1] International Trade Administration, Japan Space Industry Commercialization, The International Trade Administration (Aug. 26, 2021), https://www.trade.gov/market-intelligence/japan-space-industry-commercialization (last visited Jun 23, 2023).

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] 262, supra note 1.

[5] Id.

[6] Id.

[7] Russell Thomas, Japan’s Budding Space Program Grounded by Persistent Setbacks, The Japan Times (Mar 20, 2023), https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/03/20/national/science-health/japan-space-exploration/.

[8] Brian Ashcraft, Nippon vs Nihon: What’s the difference? Kotaku (July 26, 2021), https://kotaku.com/nippon-vs-nihon-whats-the-difference-1847360876.

[9] Hiroko Yotsumoto et al., The Space Law Review – The Law Reviews (Jan. 5, 2023), https://thelawreviews.co.uk/title/the-space-law-review/japan.

[10] Subodhana Wijeyeratne, Red Sun Rising: Individuals, Institutions, and Infrastructure in Japan’s Space Program, 1920-2003 (2020), https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/37368854 (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University).

[11]  International Trade Administration, supra note 1.

[12] Thomas, supra note 7.

[13] NASA, Fast Facts: Nozomi, Solar System Exploration (Apr. 18, 2019), https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/nozomi/in-depth.

[14] Id.

[15] Thomas, supra note 7.

[16] Id.

[17]Mainichi Japan, Transformers inspires Japanese toy maker’s moon exploration robot, MAINICHI JAPAN (Apr. 17, 2022), https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220415/p2a/00m/0sc/013000c (last visited Jun 23, 2023).

[18] JAXA, Launch Records, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, https://global.jaxa.jp/projects/result.html.

[19] Kyodo, Japan Plans Launch of World’s First Wooden Satellite in 2023, The Japan Times (Dec. 31, 2021), https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/12/31/national/japan-wooden-satellite/.

[20] Id.

[21] Newsweek, Cute Power!, Newsweek (Nov. 7, 1999), https://www.newsweek.com/cute-power-164150.