Science
NASA has signed an agreement with Japan to collaborate through Space Station, Artemis and Lunar Gateway programs.
NASA has signed a new agreement with Japan that sets out plans for the two nations to collaborate on the International Space Station (continuing the current cooperation between the countries) as well as on the Artemis program of NASA, which includes missions in lunar space and on the lunar surface.
The Japanese Minister for Education , Culture, Sport, Science and Technology Koichi Hagiuda signed an agreement with NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine.
This is a Joint Exploration Purpose Decoration (JEDI), which basically includes both countries to lay the groundwork for more concrete proposals for how these two nations will work together on projects that will include both robotic and human lunar exploration.
As an international participant in the NASA Lunar Gateway Project in October 2019, Japan has become one of the first countries to communicate their intent.
Since then other countries and agencies have also assisted Canada by developing a new version of its Canadarm, a robotic manipulator used on the space shuttle and the International Space Station, and the European Space Agency, which will contribute to this.
This new agreement is formalized, which will enable both parties to begin to explain in more detail what types of projects they will be collaborating on.
Japan is planning a mission of a robotic spacecraft on the Moon of Mars and returning samples from Phobos, its biggest natural satellite, with a 2024 launch plan, launching a spacecraft for the Lunar orbiter SELENE, and is planning its 2022 Lunar lander mission, known as the "Smart Lander to Investigate Moon" (SLIM).
