US-led Artemis mission cannot succeed without Japan's help, says NASA

US space agency NASA said on Friday that the US-led moon exploration project cannot succeed without Japan’s help. According to The Japan Times, the space agency was talking about the Armetis Project. The project led by the United States is aimed to advance lunar exploration and eventually return back to the natural satellite with humans by 2025. On Friday, a NASA representative to Asia expressed his gratitude to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for their support in the mission. 

“To succeed, we need not only JAXA but also the cooperation of private companies,” NASA attaché to Asia, Graveu McIntosh asserted on Friday. “You don’t need to be a big company. As long as you have good ideas and passion, you can (contribute),” he added. McIntosh made these assertions during his lecture at the International Space Industry Exhibition at Tokyo Big Sight. According to The Japan Times, the Japanese administration decided to join the mission back in October 2019. In November last year, Japan signed an agreement with the United States to send a Japanese astronaut to a moon-orbiting space station, which will be built as a part of the project. In exchange for this, the Japanese authorities pledged to provide the American space agency with logistic transport and other support. 

Japan is spending billions on space-related activities

This was the second year the Asian country organised the International Space Industry Exhibition. Conducted by Japan’s leading daily newspaper, Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, the Friday exhibition was attended by over 60-organisation at the three-day event. As per The Japan Times, the country is gearing up to spend billions on space exploration. According to Go Takizawa, the Director of the National Space Policy Secretariat, the Japanese government has allocated around $4.8 billion for space-related activities for the fiscal years 2022 and 2023. 

The Japanese administration is also working on the Martian Moons Exploration project. With the ambitious project, the Japanese space agency is aiming to travel to Mars to survey the planet’s two moons. If the mission turns out to be successful, Japan can become the first country to collect the sample of the Martian moon Phobos, The Japan Times reported. McIntosh, on the other hand, concluded the lecture by praising the country for having one of the “best technology in the field of Sample return”.