Space Port Japan Association (SPJ) was established in July 2018 to promote the country’s aerospace and related industries on a wide scale by opening Asia’s first spaceport in Japan with the aim of making Japan an Asian hub for the space travel business.
Japan is located off the coast of the eastern end of the Eurasian continent and is surrounded by ocean. They are great geographical advantage for spaceports and we believe Japan has big potential to become Asian gateway to the space.
Japan also has a strong background in aerospace industry. Japanese private airlines ANA/JAL were founded in early 1950s and build a position as the most trusted in the world. Japan’s first man-made satellite was launched by the predecessor of JAXA in 1970. The success of Hayabusa, the first spacecraft designed to deliberately land on an asteroid and then take off again and return samples to the earth in 2010 impressed people in the world. Japan is also joining the international space station program working together with CSA, ESA, NASA and ROSCOSMOS. Through these activities, many legacy companies grow up and many New Space companies are born and active in Japan.
SPJ is collaborating with relevant companies, groups, and government institutions both domestically and internationally including Global Spaceport Alliance (GSA) to support efforts to open spaceports at the earliest opportunity and to create business opportunities in Japan.
Naoko Yamazaki, a Japanese astronaut, represents the Director of SPJ. There are also six directors with diverse expertise, such as investors, advertising, lawyers and aerospace personnel.
There are already more than 30 member companies of SPJ and the first General Assembly of SPJ was held in April 2019 in Tokyo successfully. SPJ will continue to provide information and hold study sessions and events.
In addition, as the first step of concrete approach, Virgin Orbit announced the agreement with ANA HOLDINGS on 6 June 2019 to bring the company’s LauncherOne service to Japan. They will also partner with SPJ to select and stand-up an ideal launch site to host LauncherOne operations in Japan.
Please pay attention to activities related to Spaceport in Japan.
https://www.ana.co.jp/group/pr/201906/20190606.html
Link to Space Port Japan:
https://www.spaceport-japan.org/
