WASHINGTON — The United States and Japan signed a January 13 agreement to allow for further cooperation between the two countries in space exploration, but without announcing any new initiatives.
During a brief ceremony at NASA Headquarters attended by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other dignitaries, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed a framework agreement with his Japanese counterpart, Secretary of State Yoshimasa Hayashi.
“US-Japan space cooperation has entered a new era with the Artemis project, and many projects, including lunar activities, have been carried out by Japanese and US astronauts,” Kishida said through an interpreter at the ceremony. “I really hope that this agreement will strongly push our space cooperation further and also broaden the areas of cooperation under the Japan-US alliance.”
Both the U.S. government nor did Japan release the text of the agreement itself, titled “A Framework Agreement Between the Government of Japan and the Government of the United States for Cooperation in the Exploration of Outer Space and the Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, for Peaceful Purposes.” NASA, in a statement about the agreement, described it as covering “a broad swath of joint activities between nations”, such as aeronautics, space science and exploration.
The United States and Canada signed an agreement with a similar name — the Framework Agreement Between the Governments of Canada and the United States Government for Cooperation in the Peaceful Exploration and Use of Outer Space — in 2009. The agreement established what it described as an “overall legal framework to facilitate conclusion of cooperation implementation arrangements” between NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.
“The Framework Agreement that we are about to sign will take our cooperation to another level,” Blinken said at the ceremony. “This will strengthen our partnerships in areas such as research on space technology and transportation, robotic lunar surface missions, climate-related missions, and our shared ambition to see Japanese astronauts on the lunar surface.”
Hayashi said he expected the deal to cover future cooperation between the two countries on Artemis, including Japan’s plans to develop a pressurized cruiser for future missions. “With the conclusion of this agreement between our two countries, many cooperation projects,” he said, “will be carried out efficiently.”
Neither of the officials at the event announced any specific new cooperation projects the agreement would make possible. NASA and the Japanese government signed an agreement in November to finalize Japan’s contribution to the Lunar Gateway which also confirms that Japan will participate in the International Space Station through 2030. As part of the agreement, NASA will fly a Japanese astronaut to the Gateway with a future Artemis . mission.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at the ceremony that he and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy would travel to Japan in February “to cultivate the bond between NASA and JAXA.” He did not detail his plans for the trip.
