Q. The first Japanese manned space facility, Kibo, is now in operation, and Japanese space activities are going full-scale. How do you think this will influence Japanese society?
Japanese Experiment Module Kibo (Courtesy of NASA)
Now that Kibo is assembled, we have a space laboratory where Japan's scientists have priority access. It is clear that this will produce concrete contributions to the advancement of science and technology, but most of all, the lab will inspire our dreams and hopes. In this sense, the facility's very name, Kibo (which means hope), is highly symbolic.
The evolution of humankind has been supported by curiosity, which is embedded in our DNA. A typical example of this is when a child asks, "What's this?" when seeing an object for the first time. When humans no longer have an interest in new things, it will signal our downfall. In this sense, venturing into the new frontier of space has great potential to build momentum for our further evolution and development.
These days in Japan, the slogan "safety and security" is very popular, and I think this is very important, but it can be interpreted to mean that one cannot go on an adventure without ensuring personal safety and security, which seems to me to be an inward-looking attitude. If we lose our courage to take risks with a strong spirit of adventure - our unyielding fighting spirit - there will be no more human development anywhere, including science and culture. During the Age of Exploration, from the late 15th to the 17th century, European nations ventured into rough seas at great peril to explore the unknown. Venturing into space is indeed the Second Age of Exploration, and I think this reflects humans' adventurous spirit. In that sense, Kibo represents Japan's spirit of adventure and exploration.
Q. How do you think the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo should be used from the perspective of the humanities and social sciences?
I hope the experiments conducted on Kibo will include research on the human mind and sense of values, along with the work that's already being done on new medicines, materials, etc. Research in the field of humanities and social sciences is very important in order to establish a civil society in space.
For example, I think we should be doing psychological research on something like how humans' sense of values and meaning changes in space. Also, it's important to look at the influence of microgravity. On Earth, we can always locate ourselves, since we have two points of reference - a visual system and a gravity system - but in space, both of these systems are limited, so we cannot easily do this in space, so locating ourselves becomes more difficult. That may confuse the way we perceive ourselves and interact with the world around us.
We could look at what influence living in space will have on our sense of values and moral codes, as well as on the social rules we bring with us from or place of origin on Earth. I'm sure that prolonged stays in space will have an effect on religious beliefs. For instance, what kind of changes will be required in religious practices, such as the position of someone in a more honored (or less honored) position, or for sitting meditation, passing into Nirvana, praying postures and so on. A new space philosophy or space religion may be created.
Something else I'm interested in is the possibility of new culture and new art created by artists inspired by the unknown world of space. Progressive artists may inspire new dreams and motivation through their superb intuition and imagination.
I hope Kibo becomes a symbol for Japan's desire to be "a country respected by the world as a science-oriented nation." When space travel becomes a possibility for the general public, Japan must have its own technology to travel to space. Otherwise, we will lose our global voice. I think it is important to appeal to Japanese patriotism by embarking on missions that could bring our nation delight and honor. And I hope that Japan's past successes in space will create broad support for spending public funds on space development.
Q. Do you think a civil society will be established in space in the future? What do we need to do in order to have a good balance between society in space and on Earth?
I think we can establish a civil society in space. And if there is no possibility of that, we shouldn't travel to space. The nature of such a society could differ greatly depending on the number of people, nationalities, abilities, periods of stay in space, purpose of stay, and so on. Social relations will depend on whether people are going to space to enjoy a vacation at a space resort, to do some space business, to perform scientific research in a lab, or whether they're travelling under one nation's sovereign power or an international organization's sovereign power.
For the moment, we are assuming a situation in which members of the public just go to space as tourists to enjoy a resort destination, but even this will require a system that takes various risks into account. There are so many questions to consider, from something as basic as training people to manage a child spilling juice in a spaceship, to who will punish criminal acts, according to what law, etc. Creating an appropriate governmental system is a precondition for the establishment of a civil society in space.
In order to have a good balance between societies in space and on Earth, we need to establish a cost-efficient and safe transportation system. With current costs being close to 10 billion yen per launch (more than 100 million USD), it is difficult to transport many people and resources to space, so we may have to invent something like a "space elevator." Also, right now this is in the realm of science fiction, but eventually a space society may have to become independent from Earth, and there could be some "settlers" in space. There could be a "Moon child," born and raised on the Moon. Over time, evolution will take its course, and a "spaceman," different from humans on Earth, may evolve.
Q. Who do you think should govern a civil society in space?
At the moment, there's a limited number of nations with experience in manned space flight, and we have to depend on the technologically advanced countries to safely transport the general public to space. In this sense, we expect that the countries with advanced space technology and economic power would have a bigger voice. Most probably, these advanced countries could claim territorial rights and the right to use resources in space in return for their technological contributions.
On the other hand, there may be some global-minded countries that insist that planets other than Earth should be recognized as belonging to all of humankind, rather than to certain nations. The discussion of who's going to govern society in space needs to overcome such clashes between national egotism and international cooperation. Economic issues are also involved, such as how to finance this enormous endeavour, which cannot be funded by just one nation.
Without any international rules, this could become a leadership competition between advanced countries, similar to what has happened with nuclear weapons. We would like to avoid anything like a space war, so countries might have residency rights, for example, but no exclusive territorial rights, as for instance in Antarctica, where the Antarctic Treaty doesn't allow the ownership of the land underneath the research stations. I think space will have the same kind of system. As a matter of fact, at the moment, the current Moon Agreement and Outer Space Treaty are heading in such a direction.
Q. What do you like about space?
Space is an enormous unknown world filled with many mysteries. It's our land of dreams and our largest field of opportunity. If we explore this world, we may discover something spectacularly significant. That potential is my primal source of curiosity. It's the only place where the answer to Gauguin's question "Where do we come from?" can be found. Q. What are your hopes for Japanese space development?I hope that after more than 50 years of scientific research in space, people realize that the time has come to begin research in the humanities and social sciences. With respect to Japan's space policy, it seems that not many messages about what our nation is trying to accomplish have reached the general public. The Japanese government should try harder to win the hearts and minds of its people by explaining to them how and why it's going to challenge the frontiers of space.
