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NASA Proposed Sending Japanese Astronauts to the Moon
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine secretly proposed using US rockets to send Japanese astronauts to the Moon, Japanese newspaper The Mainichi reports, citing "multiple sources" familiar with the talks.
According to the paper, Bridenstine made the proposal during an unofficial September 2019 visit in which he met with space industry leaders, including the head of the Japanese government's Space Policy Committee. Bridenstine reportedly encouraged attendees to consider a future in which Japanese astronauts joined Americans on the lunar surface.
US and Japan in talks to boost space ties, send Japanese astronauts to moon in 2020s
If this were to be realized, it would be Japan's first moon landing, and it could possibly make the country only the second in history, after the U.S., to put a person on the astronomical body. The U.S. believes the moon is set to become a strategic point in the near future both in terms of economics and security, and its moves to strengthen ties with Japan are apparently part of an aim to check China's rise to interstellar prominence.
[...] At the end of May 2019, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe received U.S. President Donald Trump as a state guest, and declared that Japan was reviewing possible participation in Washington's program.
Bridenstine then held an unofficial meeting on Sept. 24, 2019, in Tokyo with figures including Yoshiyuki Kasai, head of the government's Space Policy Committee and honorary chairman at the Central Japan Railway Co., Takafumi Matsui, deputy head of the same committee as well as the director at the Chiba Institute of Technology's Planetary Exploration Research Center and a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, and Takehiko Matsuo, head of the National Space Policy Secretariat among others.
At the meeting, Bridenstine is reported to have petitioned the attendees to carry out a forward-thinking assessment with a vision of having Japanese astronauts stand alongside American ones on the moon.
Related: Japan Planning to Put a Man on the Moon Around 2030
India and Japan to Collaborate on Lunar Lander and Sample Return Mission
NASA Orders 10 SLS Rockets; Return to the Moon Likely Delayed to 2028
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday January 04 2020, @04:34AM (2 children)
Want long-term success in space? Use fully reusable rockets.
Until then, it's playtime. A few missions [wikipedia.org] to keep skilled scientists and engineers busy is fine. But the real fun begins when a superheavy payload costs less than $10 million to launch.
Could fully reusable rockets have been developed decades ago (before an era of petaflops performance)? Who knows, but it could have been even worse if CompanyX hadn't stepped onto the scene.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Saturday January 04 2020, @11:07AM (1 child)
Reusable rockets are uneconomical by physics, and by chemistry, and any amount of political marketing will not help this.
The kinder you are, the easier it is for wicked people to morally coerce you.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday January 04 2020, @12:04PM
Hahaha. You went full mojibake.
If that's not satire, check back in a year or two so we can laugh at you.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]