The Space Technology Directorate I made a major renewal of its website, with a new Japanese version put online in August 2021 and an English version in September 2021. AIZAWA Eisuke of the Management and Integration Department and KAWAMURA Kohei of the Earth Observation Research Center spoke as follows about the concept of the renewal.

"The intention is to spark an interest in satellites and Earth observations among people who happen to visit the website. We also want people with an interest in space to like the subject even more. Finally, we want to get visitors to the site to use the satellite data there. We have arranged these three concepts into two separate websites."

The two websites consist of the "Satellite Navigator (Satnavi)" site that provides a wide range of information on satellite development and all the activities of the Directorate, and the "Earth-graphy" site that enables visitors to gain a profound knowledge of the use of Earth observation and satellite data.

As AIZAWA explains: "Earth observations and position satellites are playing useful roles in our daily lives and safety, and we have put a great deal of effort into helping people realize that they are actually a more familiar part of life than they realize." KAWAMURA adds: "We have envisaged people arriving by coincidence at the site after searching for some keyword, and kept in mind throughout that we want the site to serve as an entry point in which all the information we transmit sparks an interest in space exploration.

According to AIZAWA: "Satellites are machines, but a great deal of passion and thinking goes into them on the part of those involved in their development and operation. In our newly unveiled Satellite Project Stories, we will introduce all sorts of tales connected to satellites that will communicate that degree of passion to the public."

The new sites are not only intended to serve PR purposes, and were constructed with the perspective of incorporating the use of satellite data by visitors. With regard to this KAWAMURA says: "JAXA currently uses six satellites to make daily Earth observations. This data is made available free of charge, but one recent issue is that the data is difficult to use for non-specialists. We want to construct a system in which visitors are able to easily view the Earth in real time online, and it is easy to create simple apps using observational data. Our wish is to let people from a wide range of fields actually use the data and understand the importance of satellites, thereby broadening the horizons of Earth observations."

The two have strengthened the collaboration among staff in the Directorate through the work of renewing the websites, and much is expected of the new websites in the future.