JAXA President Monthly Regular Press Conference



Date and time: 11:00 to 11:35 on June 13 (Thu.)
Venue: JAXA Tokyo Office Presentation Room (B1 floor)
MC: Koji Terada, JAXA Public Affairs Department Director
◦ Opening statement

On June 4, the Space Strategy Office of the Cabinet Office set forth the "strategic budget allocation policy for space development and application in Japan Fiscal Year 2014 (Expenditure estimation policy.)" It is the first policy for budget compilation since the new Basic Plan on Space Policy was established. The budget policy proposed three pillars namely "safety, security and disaster prevention", "industrial promotion", and "space science and other frontier areas." JAXA will request our budget for JFY 2014 along the lines of this policy.

JAXA conducts our operations and activities based on a mid-term plan drawn up in April this year. In this October, JAXA will celebrate its 10th anniversary, thus, by taking this opportunity, I would like to prompt our employees to renew their mindsets. I would especially like to study specific ideas for possible contributions of JAXA's achievements and values to society by involving all of JAXA. Through correctly recognizing JAXA's strong and weak points, as well as its raison d'etre, I would like to compile a report by October. In addition, I actively talk to young employees face to face as much as possible to exchange opinions on their recognition of problems and future vision.
Through the above-mentioned activities, I would like JAXA to take a fresh new first step.

Topics

I. Safety, security and disaster prevention
II. Industrial promotion
III. Space science frontier
IV. Education, promotion, and international cooperation


I. Safety, security and disaster prevention

(1) Launch of H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 4
The H-II Launch Vehicle No. 4 with the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV, a cargo transporter to the International Space Station) "KOUNOTORI4" onboard will be launched from the Tanegashima Space Center (Minamitane-cho, Kagoshima Prefecture) on August 4.
(2) Launch of Epsilon-1 launch vehicle
The first Epsilon launch vehicle (Epsilon-1) will be launched from the Uchinoura Space Center (USC) (Kimotsuki-cho, Kagoshima Prefecture) on August 22 with the Spectroscopic Planet Observatory for Recognition of Interaction of Atmosphere (SPRINT-A) onboard.
We experienced a trailer malfunction while transporting the second stage motor of the Epsilon-1 on June 2, and the operation was briefly suspended. We completed its repair on June 5, and the first-stage motor was brought into the USC, but we would like to apologize for causing trouble and concerns to the Japanese people, especially people living near the USC. Fortunately, the accident will not affect the launch schedule. We would like to brace ourselves for launch preparations.
(3) Epsilon Support Message Campaign Result
JAXA conducted the Epsilon Support Message Campaign between April 10 and May 7, 2013, and received 5,812 messages. In order to answer people's expectations, we would like to do our very best to successfully launch the Epsilon-1.

II. Industrial promotion


(1) Activity status of Program Promotion Office
I would like to report to you that the Program Promotion Office received two consignment contracts from the government in addition to some from the private sector. One is from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to develop technology for a comprehensive operation system for Earth observation satellites. Such a system enables the maximization of operations of all related resources by coordinating a group of Earth observation satellites. We believe that JAXA's experience of tracking and controlling a multiple number of satellites, image processing of earth observation satellites and our data archives, are very useful for this contract.
JAXA newly set up the Satellite Constellation Systems Office on June 1 to conduct this task.

The other one is a consignment contract from the Cabinet Office to support the development, coordination and operation of the quasi-zenith satellite system. The Cabinet Office has been working on deploying the quasi-zenith satellite system, and JAXA is responsible for comprehensively performing the following tasks: to support the work of the Cabinet Office, to operate the Michibiki satellite, to promote application of satellite positioning technology, and to conduct R&D on positioning satellite related technologies. For this contract, we also set up theSatellite Navigation Office on June 1.
We have assigned 10 talented employees to the contract with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, while a little less than 20 to the contract with the Cabinet Office to ensure our best performance.

(2) Current status and new initiative of aviation science technology
On May 23, the "Aviation and Science Technology Roadmap" was released when the "40th Aviation and Science Technology Committee" was held by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The roadmap clearly indicates the role of JAXA's aviation development technology, thus we will start a new initiative according to the role specified in the roadmap. Based on the above status, JAXA will hold the "JAXA Aviation Symposium 2013 - New start of JAXA aviation project toward the development of aviation industry" on June 28 on the second floor of Ochanomizu Sola City (Sola City Hall, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo.) Key persons from the industry, academia, and the public sector will get together at the venue to discuss and study how to develop Japan's aviation sector in the future. The symposium requires advance reservations, and thanks to high interest in this field, all the available 400 seats have already been reserved. I have high hopes for the success of the symposium.

III. Space science frontier



(1) KOUNOTORI4 (HTV4) media explanation and debut
On June 19, JAXA will give an explanation about the KOUNOTORI 4 to the media and the vehicle will also be revealed to them at the Tanegashima Space Center (Minamitane-cho, Kagoshima Pref.) As a sub-venue, the Tsukuba Space Center (Tsukuba-city, Ibaraki Pref.) and JAXA Tokyo office (Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo) will also be connected via a tele-conference system. * The event will be exclusively for the media.

IV. Education, promotion and international cooperation


(1) COPUOS
The United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) is being held in Vienna, Austria, between June 12 and 21.The COPUOUS was set up as a standing committee of the United Nations in 1959 to be in charge of supporting R&D on outer space, information exchange, and discussing and studying measures and legal issues for peaceful uses of outer space, then submitting the results of the aforementioned activities to the UN General Assembly.
Last year, JAXA's Technical Counselor Horikawa assumed the position of the COPUOS chairperson as the first Japanese in this role, and he also chairs the Vienna meeting. In parallel, a panel discussion was held for the 50th anniversary of the first female astronaut's flight on June 12, and Astronaut Chiaki Mukai took the podium from Japan.

(2) Space development and application award
Submission of applications has started since May 31 for the "space development and application award" hosted by the Cabinet Office. In addition to various awards including the Prime Minister award and minister's award of other related ministers, the JAXA president's award has also been set up. We would like to select an applicant whose achievement has made a significant contribution to space development and application technology for the JAXA president's award.

Reference