Japan’s three major government agencies involved with space related research have taken the first tentative steps to a possible merger later this decade.
The three space agencies involved – the National Space Development Agency of Japan, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, and the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan – are all affiliated with the new super Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
The three agencies will initially establish a joint program office to coordinate launch vehicle development, along with the sharing of ground facilities such as tracking stations and IT support services.
The initial phase of cooperation will be over three years at which time the success of the joint activities will be reviewed.
The move follows mounting pressure from the Ministry of Finance to better coordinate the sometimes overlapping activities of the three agencies.
Japan’s space program does not have the backing of a powerful ministry such as the new super Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and as a result has been the poor cousin of Japan’s state sponsored technology programs.
Following a succession of failed science and technology satellites plus an ever more expensive launcher, the Finance Ministry has been eager to save a few yen by pressuring the three main space agencies to be amalgamated.
However, the space science institute (ISAS) is backed by the former Education Ministry, which has some power and hence the ability to delay and frustrate the designs of the Finance Ministry to interfere with what has been a very successful space agency.
But with so little support for space research among Japanese government officials it is probably inevitable the three agencies will be formally merged within the decade.
