There are only a few weeks left before the end of 2022.

On November 25, we held a press conference to report on the misconduct identified as not conforming to the Ethical Guidelines for Medical and Health Research Involving Human Subjects. JAXA Vice President SASAKI Hiroshi, who is responsible for JAXA's Human Spaceflight Activities including space medicine research as well as head of the special task force on the recent nonconformity case, explained about the results of related investigations and recurrence prevention measures.

As a research institution engaged in a wide range of activities from basic study to development and application, we take the recent incident seriously, and will make an all-out effort to prevent the occurrence of similar incidents while striving ever-harder to fulfill our responsibilities as a tax-funded research and development organization. On behalf of the organization, I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest apologies to the Japanese people.

The 28th Session of the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF-28) place in Hanoi, Vietnam, for four days from November 15 to 18, under the theme of “Bridging Space Innovations Opportunities for Sustainable and Prosperous Future.” It was the first in-person meeting of the annual event in three years after it was held online in the past two years due to the spread of COVID-19. APRSAF-28 registered a total of 380 participants from 36 countries and regions. The participants expressed their delight about APRSAF returning to the face-to-face format while engaging in vigorous exchanges of opinions.

The four-day program consisted of two parts. The first half was dedicated to working group sessions, which were held separately by five groups with different themes: (1) Satellite Applications for Social Benefit, (2) Space Education for All, (3) Enhancement of Space Capability, (4) Space Frontier, and (5) Space Policy and Law. The second half was for plenary meetings, which were attended by the heads or representatives of national space agencies, and concluded by adopting the joint statement that summarized results of all the working group sessions.

Each working group promotes activities in accordance with the APRSAF Nagoya Vision, which was adopted at APRSAF-26 held in Nagoya in 2019. Among various achievements presented this year, let me introduce two major ones, each from the Satellite Applications for Social Benefit Working Group and the Space Education for All Working Group. The first was from the SAFE CH4 project, reported by Vietnam National Space Center (VNSC), which performs research for assessment of methane emission from paddy fields and water management. The second was the Regional Space Education Congress holding its first meeting. This project is to collect and share best practices of space education conducted at higher education institutions, aiming to contribute to future human resources development in the Asia-Pacific region.

APRSAF registers participants from the private sector, which accounted for about 44% of the entire entry this year. These participants apparently had high expectation for APRSAF to provide a good opportunity for networking with government representatives as well as other business representatives. This was indicated particularly by the Space Industry Workshop attracting the largest attendance except for the plenary meetings. The workshop hosted a number of programs, such as panel discussions and open roundtable talks, where participants from space agencies and business corporations exchanged opinions on their roles and expected activities, considering future directions for space policies and business development, respectively

This year’s event has confirmed my recognition of increased expectations for APRSAF to provide a platform for players from across a diverse range of sectors in industry, academia, and government, as well as different geographical locations and business segments, to meet together and build and enhance relationships with each other. We will endeavor to provide such a platform to meet these expectations.

The 29th and 30th events are scheduled to be held in Indonesia (2023) and Australia (2024), respectively.

In the last monthly press conference in November, I received questions about promoting space business and start-up ventures in Japan.

JAXA has been conducting industry promotional measures over the past years, looking at partnerships with various sectors, in addition to the aerospace field. This week, we made three press releases about recent activities for collaborations with business operators and in the industry-academia-government framework.

Today, I will describe our investment activities, which are developed as part of efforts to support the acceleration and expansion of Japan’s space business development.

In April 2021, the Act on Activation of the Creation of Science and Technology Innovation was revised, as a result of which JAXA has the legal authority to invest in business operators that use results of JAXA’s research and development work as well as providing personnel and technical assistance.

In April 2022, we started calling for application for the investment program run in the above-described capacity. In response, we registered a number of applicants, from among which we have selected Tenchijin, Inc. This marks JAXA’s first investment business project.

Certified as a JAXA venture, Tenchijin provides land appraisal services by analyzing and visualizing huge amounts of remote sensing data sourced from Earth observation satellites operated by JAXA and other entities. The company was selected after comprehensively considering a number of reasons, including: using satellite data to develop business activities that meet JAXA’s objectives to promote space development and utilization and implementation of its research results; and being a growing player with further potential in the globally expanding satellite data utilization market, who is promoting business internationally from geographical and topographical perspectives.

JAXA will make use the investment and other capacities to promote implementation of its research and development results in the business sector, aiming to help maintain and enhance Japan’s industrial competitiveness and the foundation of industrial science and technology.

I will give an update on the development status of the H3 launch vehicle.

We are currently assessing in detail data from the first-stage captive firing test (CFT) for the first flight. This test was conducted at the Tanegashima Space Center last month, and we are carrying out necessary measures in sequence. Particularly for the purpose of launching the first flight, we are carefully examining improvement measures implemented to address issues identified before the CFT and are looking to schedule the launch within this fiscal year.

Also, preparations for the LE-9 engine for the second and subsequent flights are underway. Major tasks are to prepare tests for obtaining data needed to determine optimal specifications while assessing test data obtained in the past. Turbopump component testing for the above purpose is scheduled to take place at the Kakuda Space Center on December 10. Going forward, using results of the planned testing, we will move forward LE-9 engine development efforts aimed at launching the second and subsequent flights.