The first non-American bootprint on the Moon may be “Made in Japan”
A Japanese astronaut will set foot on the lunar surface during one of the upcoming Artemis missions in 2026 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
One of the Artemis program’s aims is to establish a permanent colony on the Moon, which would serve as a base for future Mars missions.
“America will no longer walk on the Moon alone,” says NASA chief Bill Nelson, referring to Japan’s role in the highly anticipated return to the big cheese in the sky.
This outcome did not result from a lottery draw but from good diplomacy between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US President Joe Biden.
In a joint press conference on 10 April, the two leaders announced that NASA would recruit two Japanese astronauts for two separate Artemis missions. The first is slated to hoist the flag of the Rising Sun upon touchdown for Artemis IV in 2028.
NASA eyes humanity’s return to the Moon for the first time in half a century with the arrival of two US astronauts in 2026 in Artemis III. Nelson also did not shy away from announcing a bid to lead the new space race — not against the defunct USSR—but the People’s Republic of China, which has its own space station. China made space history by becoming the first nation to successfully land a robotic probe on the far side of the Moon in 2019.
A spokesperson for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), who echoed the news of having a Japanese astronaut on the Moon, pledged to provide an enclosed and pressurised Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) for the Artemis VII and subsequent missions.
The rover — also known as the Crewed Pressurised Rover — would be more than a mode of transportation for its two occupants over long stretches of lunar terrain. LRV could also be an acronym for Laboratory Rooming Vehicle, in which astronauts could conduct scientific experiments and have room service during extended explorations.
In addition, Japan will provide NASA with three scientific instruments for the Artemis missions.
The Lunar Dielectric Analyser (LDA), designed by the University of Tokyo and other collaborative institutions, is one of the few selected for NASA’s Artemis deployed instrument program. By measuring soil behaviour in an electric field, LDA will help determine whether frost deposits are present in the lunar soil. The presence of ice on the Moon can lead to a sustainable water supply for colonisation and Moon-based explorations to Mars.
According to Nelson, the new space race is less about ideology and more about US national security. Concerned about losing ownership of lunar water, the US is poised to give China a run for its money — and water.
While the two superpowers rattle their space rhetoric, JAXA is developing a comprehensive, long-term research program that innovates and uses various technologies, including LDA, to promote sustainable deep-space exploration.
The NASA and JAXA partnership in the new “gold rush” is like a match made — if not in heaven — at least on the Moon.
Sources:
https://www.exploration.jaxa.jp/e/news/newspage/20240404.html
https://www.exploration.jaxa.jp/e/news/newspage/20240411.html