On August 22, 2023, the International Space Station Multilateral Coordination Board (ISS MCB Meeting) was held at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in United States, and JAXA participated as a member of the ISS Partnership.

The ISS MCB Meeting serves as the top-level international coordination meeting for the ISS program, where important matters related to the operations and utilization of the ISS are regularly discussed.

This meeting marked the first of its kind after Canada, Europe, Russia, Japan, and the United States each committed to participating in the extension of ISS operations beyond 2025. Representatives from each partner discussed topics related to the operation of the ISS as an orbital laboratory, including crucial research and technology demonstrations for future space exploration. Furthermore, they discussed the role and utilization of the ISS for the benefit of humanity, as well as its role in commercial economic activities in Low Earth Orbit in the 2030s and the expansion of human activities to the Moon and beyond.

Following the meeting, a joint statement was issued:

JAXA will provide the live coverage of the launch of the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) and the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) onboard the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 47 (H-IIA F47).

Broadcast Time: around 8:10 a.m. to 9:40 a.m. (JST) on September 7, 2023/ 23:10 p.m. on September 6 to 0:40 a.m. (UTC) on September 7, 2023
Launch Time: 8:42:11 A.M. (JST) on September 7, 2023 / 23:42:11 p.m. (UTC) on September 6, 2023
Launch Site: Launch Site: JAXA Tanegashima Space Center

The broadcast date and time are subject to change.

Dr. Riko Oki, Director of Earth Observation Research Center, Space Technology Directorate I, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) received the Exceptional Public Service Medal as the NASA Administrators Agency Honor Awards 2022. The awards ceremony was held at the U.S. Embassy in Japan on July 11, 2023.

The Exceptional Public Service Medal is awarded to individuals who have achieved outstanding performance for NASA missions. Dr.Oki has led the cooperation on precipitation observations for Japan-U.S. collaborative satellites over the years, including serving as a research scientist for the Japan-U.S. joint mission “Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM),” initiating the follow-on joint mission “Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM)” In addition, she served as JAXA TRMM/GPM Program Scientist for the research on precipitation observations.

JAXA's precipitation radars onboard the TRMM and the GPM Core Observatory are capable of observing the three-dimensional structure of precipitation with high accuracy, leading to the development of the Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP), which provides global precipitation estimate in near real time. The GSMaP is widely used in countries of Asia Pacific region and around the world. Furthermore, it is expected that further Japan-U.S. cooperation in the field of Earth observation will continue and develop in the future. In this regards, JAXA is planning a new satellite, the Precipitation Measuring Mission (PMM), expecting to participate in the Atmosphere Observing System (AOS), a next generation mission of NASA. To advance its plan, JAXA launched the PMM Project Team.

The awards ceremony for NASA staff and awardee in the U.S. was held at NASA in the U.S. on April 26, 2023. However, the award ceremony for Dr. Oki was specially held at the U.S. Embassy in Japan on the occasion of the visit of the Earth Science Division executives to Japan. At the award ceremony, Dr. Karen St. Germain, Director of Earth Science Division (NASA) handed Dr. Oki a certificate and a medal in the presence of Mr. Raymond F. Greene, Deputy Chief of Mission.

Dr. Oki is the first Japanese to win this honorable award. At the award ceremony, she named the researchers and engineers of both in Japan and the U.S. with whom she has cooperated, and said, “I would like to share this award with my colleagues. I hope young researchers will archive more in the future.” Mr. Greene, Deputy Chief of Mission commented “She is the first Japanese person to win the award, but we’re confident she won’t be the last.”

JAXA's Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) will carry a rover jointly developed by DLR (German Aerospace Center) and CNES (National Centre for Space Studies). The rover will be released from the MMX spacecraft above the Martian moon Phobos, and will land on the moon to observe the surface and contribute to a safe and secure landing for the MMX spacecraft.

On June 20, 2023, at the Paris Air Show (Le Bourget) organized in Paris, France, JAXA President Yamakawa Hiroshi, Chair of the DLR Executive Board Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, DLR Executive Board Member and Director General of the German Space Agency at DLR Walther Pelzer, and CNES CEO Philippe Baptiste signed a trilateral Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) concerning cooperative activities on the rover within the MMX mission.

At the same occasion, DLR/CNES announced that the nickname for the rover has been chosen as “IDEFIX”.

JAXA cooperated with DLR and CNES during the successful Hayabusa2 asteroid sample return mission, which carried the DLR-CNES co-developed small lander “MASCOT”, and will once again cooperate for a successful mission for MMX.

On May 25th, President Yamakawa of JAXA and Dr. Phillipe Baptiste, CEO of the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the French Space Agency have signed Inter-Agency Agreement Concerning the Cooperation ㏌ the Field of Space Programmes at JAXA Sagamihara Campus. JAXA and CNES established long standing cooperation for about 30 years. Based on this cooperative and trust relationship between two agencies, the agreement aims to strengthen the cooperation creation structure which promotes and organizes new cooperative activities.

The agreement also sets forth basic terms and conditions for cooperation with CNES. Implementing Arrangement concerning Cooperative Activities related to Analysis of Return Samples by MicrOmega at the JAXA Extraterrestrial Sample Curation Center was signed as the first cooperation under this new inter-agency agreement.

We are pleased to announce that the JAXA Space Exploration Center (JSEC) has decided on the following "International Space Exploration Logo" to symbolize JAXA's future lunar and Mars exploration activities.

This logo was created based on the grand prize-winning design (adult category) of the "JAXA's Lunar and Mars Exploration Logo Contest"(web page in Japanese), held from July to October 2022.

We are also planning to use the following logo designs (respectively based on the grand prize-winning designs in the elementary school and under category, and junior and senior high school category) for various occasions.

Thank you for the many submissions to the "JAXA's Lunar and Mars Exploration Logo Contest". JSEC will continue all efforts towards lunar and Mars exploration.

NASA will provide JAXA with important scientific payloads for the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, including MEGANE (Mars-moon Exploration with GAmma rays and NEutrons) and the Pneumatic (P) Sampler.
On 17th April 2023, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between NASA and JAXA for cooperation on the MMX mission was signed by JAXA President Yamakawa Hiroshi and NASA Deputy Administrator Pamela Melroy, on the occasion of the Space Symposium which took place in Colorado Spring, US.
This signing follows the Exchange of Notes signed between the Japanese and US government on April 11, 2023: https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/press/release/press4_009664.html (Only in Japanese)

With the help of international partners such as NASA, JAXA will continue all efforts towards a successful MMX mission.

The online workshop “Tackling Extreme Precipitation Events Workshop -Indo-Pacific region-” was held jointly by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) from March 1st to 3rd, 2023. This workshop was one of the efforts under the Quad Space Working Group, which was established after Quad Leaders’ Summit in September 2021. The Quad countries, Australia, India, Japan and the United States, have been promoting practical cooperation in various fields to realize a “free and open Indo-Pacific (FOIP)”. The Quad Space Working Group is working to provide capacity building support in the countries of the Indo-Pacific region for responding to extreme precipitation events by utilizing the Earth observation satellite technology of the Quad countries. The workshop was attended by meteorological and hydrological agencies in and around countries of the Indo-pacific region, various agencies providing expertise and funding in the region and experts from the Quad countries, amounting to about 200 participants from 17 countries.

In the opening session, a keynote speech titled “Transformative Steps to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path” was given by Professor Toshio Koike, Director of the International Center for Water Disaster and Risk Management. The first session was the introduction of applications and services based on space-based precipitation services by each of the Quad countries, followed by the second session to share good practices of using the services by four national agencies and three regional agencies. After two sessions, experts form the Quad countries and the Indo-Pacific region discussed how to support capacity building in countries of the Indo-Pacific region for tackling extreme precipitation events through utilizing space-based services in the future. On the third day of the workshop, training on utilization of data of “Himawari” by JMA and “Global Satellite Map of Precipitation (GSMaP)” was held.

JAXA will provide the live coverage of the launch of the first H3 Launch Vehicle (H3 TF1:Test Flight No.1) with Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 “DAICHI-3” (ALOS-3) onboard based on the new launch date.

Broadcast Start: around 9:40 a.m. (JST) / 0:40 a.m. (UTC) on March 7, 2023
Launch Time: 10:37:55 a.m. (JST) through 10:44:15 a.m. (JST)
Launch Site: JAXA Tanegashima Space Center

The broadcast date is subject to change due to the launch date.

Press Release: Launch Time and Launch window of the First H3 Launch Vehicle （H3TF1）Carrying the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 “DAICHI-3” (ALOS-3)

JAXA has responded to Earthquake in Turkey and Syria, and conducted emergency disaster observations and provides data as requested by Disaster and Emergency Management Authority(AFAD), Ministry of Interior in Turkey, through Sentinel Asia and the International Disaster Charter.

Analysis results using these PALSAR-2 data can be seen in "Updates on Earth".

On February 16, 2023, H.E. Mr. Csaba Kőrösi, President of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly and his team visited the JAXA Tsukuba Space Center. Dr. YAMAKAWA Hiroshi, President of JAXA, introduced JAXA’s Earth observation satellites; Global Observing SATellite for Greenhouse gases and Water cycle (GOSAT-GW) and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-3 (ASMR3) which will be installed on the Global Change Observation Mission-Water (GCOM-W) under development, and JAXA/UNOOSA’s KiboCUBE program. They exchanged views on JAXA’s efforts toward the SDGs and how JAXA can contribute to environmental issues related to “water” and “climate” including water disasters and climate change.

The live coverage of the launch of the first H3 Launch Vehicle(H3/TF1:Test Flight No.1) with Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 “DAICHI-3” (ALOS-3) onboard until the separation of “Daichi-3.”

Broadcast Start：around 9:45 a.m. (JST) / 0:45 a.m. (UTC) on Feb 17
Launch Window：10:37:55-10:44:15(JST)
Launch Site: JAXA Tanegashima Space Center

The broadcast date is subject to change due to the launch date.

Broadcast：around 10:00(UTC-9) on Feb 15
Launch Window：10:37:55-10:44:15

The broadcast date is subject to change due to the launch date.

On February 7, 2023, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, and his team visited the JAXA Tsukuba Space Center. Dr. YAMAKAWA Hiroshi, President of JAXA, introduced JAXA facilities including the International Space Station (ISS) Kibo Mission Control Room, Simulation Apparatus for Tumbling target capturing Dynamics (SATDyn), and the test site of X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) which is one of the JAXA/NASA collaborative mission with ESA. Sen. Nelson and Dr. Yamakawa exchanged prospects on JAXA/NASA partnered missions in a wide range of areas including lunar exploration.

On January 13, 2023, in the presence of Prime Minister Kishida visiting NASA HQ, Mr. Hayashi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, and the Honorable Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States of America, signed the Framework Agreement between Japan and the United States of America for Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space. Dr. Yamakawa, President of JAXA and Astronaut Hoshide also had the opportunity to witness this signing ceremony.

This agreement sets forth the basic terms and conditions for Japan-U.S. space cooperation for peaceful purposes as well as enables to promote space cooperation and increase efficiency for it between JAXA and U.S. agencies including NASA. We expect that this will further expand the field of cooperation including Artemis Project between Japan and U.S.