2024/04/13Nikkei English Shimbun reported by Kawahara Kan
Companies such as Toyota Motor are developing a vehicle known as the "Moon Cruiser" to carry astronauts on the lunar surface.
The Artemis project, led by NASA, also plans to send two Japanese astronauts to the moon, both developments that have the potential to boost the East Asian nation's influence in any future lucrative lunar economic bloc.
This week, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden held a summit in Washington, D.C., where the two countries confirmed to deepen cooperation on space exploration.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Japan's Minister of Science and Technology Masahito Moriyama signed a document earlier this week outlining Japan's participation in the Artemis program.
Toyota is working with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to develop a lunar cruiser by 2031. The vehicle will function similarly to a "moon camper", with astronauts able to stay in the vehicle without a spacesuit due to its controlled air pressure. The second Japanese astronaut, who is expected to land on the moon in 2032, will operate the vehicle.
The lunar cruiser is expected to fly 20 kilometers per day with two astronauts on board and will complete tasks such as surveying soil and underground resources in the area near the moon's south pole in about a month.
The developers aim to have an operational life of around 10 years and a total distance of about 100,000 kilometers. Toyota is providing battery technology that uses sunlight to produce hydrogen and tire technology that can drive on the fine sands of the moon.
U.S. astronauts are aiming to land on the moon in 2026, and the Japanese plan for the first moon landing in 2028 or later.
To date, the 12 Americans who landed on the moon in the Apollo space program of the 60s and 70s of the 20th century are the only humans who have ever visited a satellite of the Earth. If Artemis goes as planned, Japan could well become the second country to take the step.
Japan and the United States have also agreed to have another Japanese national aboard the Gateway, a new space station that will orbit the Moon under the Artemis program.
In February 2023, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) selected Makoto Suwa and Ayumi Yoneda as candidates for new astronauts for a manned mission to the moon. The duo are expected to be officially appointed astronauts as early as November this year and are seen as favourites for a trip to the moon.
A few years ago, it was suggested that there was a water source near the moon's south pole, and if it was found to be large enough, it could help astronauts stay alive. These sources can also be used to produce hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis, which are used to make rocket fuel.
PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that a $170 billion economic bloc will form on the moon in the two decades between now and 2040.
Of that amount, $100 billion will be services to deliver observation equipment and other goods to the moon. PwC expects the lunar resource exploration market to grow rapidly from 2040 onwards.
During the Cold War, the race to the moon between the United States and the former Soviet Union was driven by factors such as national prestige. The Artemis program, launched in 2017, aims to create an economic bloc through sustainable lunar activities, among other things. Artemis The name derives from the goddess of the moon in Greek mythology, who was the twin sister of the sun god Apollo.
When Japan announced its participation in the Artemis program in 2019, sending Japanese astronauts to the moon was a major ambition.
Yosuke Yamashiki, director of the Center for Human Space at Kyoto University's SIC, said, "Astronauts who land on the moon under the Artemis program will be pioneers in the future to achieve a long-term stay on the moon."
The Moon has a harsh environment, with radiation hundreds of times greater than that of Earth. But Japan is no stranger to space activities, with Japanese astronauts visiting the ISS 19 times by the end of March. This figure is in third place, but far behind the 292 and 110 visits of American and Russian cosmonauts, respectively.
Sending Japanese astronauts to the moon will be key to maintaining Japan's presence in the emerging space sector.
The manned moon landings of Japan and the United States could also be a constraint on the Chinese government. China has vowed to become a "space power", challenged the United States, and has launched the Tiangong space station into orbit around the Earth.
China has successfully landed three unmanned moons between 2013 and 2020 and plans to achieve a manned landing on the moon in 2030. "I don't want China to go to Antarctica with humans and say, 'This is ours, don't meddle," Nelson said.
NASA's Orion manned spacecraft, which will send astronauts to the moon under the Artemis program, could cast a shadow over the U.S. and Japanese plans due to delays in the spacecraft's development.