Tokyo, August 05: A group of experts held an inaugural meeting here to discuss how Japan should explore the moon following the formulation of a national space development project in June that underlined the country’s ambition to send its first manned moon probe.
A private panel set up under Seiko Noda, state minister for Science and Technology Policy, and Food Safety, plans to consider how Japan can bring moon exploration to realisation. The panel plans to produce a report around June next year.
The government’s space development project states that Japan would explore the moon around 2020 with a two-legged robot, with plans to explore the moon in earnest later involving both man and robots.
In yesterday’s meeting, members of the panel, chaired by Katsuhiko Shirai, president of Waseda University, were briefed by government officials on space projects under way in other countries, such as China and the US.
“I want to have full discussions about why we should engage in manned activities,” panel member Hirotoshi Kubota, a professor of space engineering at Teikyo University, told the meeting.
–Agencies