Connecting People & Ideas to Advance Mutual Interests in U.S.-Asia Relations

U.S.-Japan Space Forum:
Japan-U.S. Space Cooperation in the Second Space Age

Sponsored by U.S. Embassy, Tokyo

2019 marks fifty years since the American Apollo 11 mission first landed humans on the moon. Fifty years later, we are in a “second space age,” in which far more states and sub-state actors possess the means to engage in space activities. During those five decades, Japan has also become a super space-power.

Mike Mansfield was famous for reminding us that the U.S.-Japan relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world, “bar none.” Accordingly, as two of the world’s space powers, Japan and the U.S. enjoy an extraordinary space partnership that will help to preserve safety and stability in this new space era, and one that will see astronauts return to the moon and travel onward to Mars. On February 7, 2019, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation’s U.S.-Japan Space Forum hosted a public discussion on the future of Japan-U.S. space cooperation in the second space age.

Date:                           Thursday, February 7th, 2019   14:30-17:00

Location:                     Center for Rule-making Strategies at Tama University

 

Welcome and Overview

14:40 – 14:50     Frank Jannuzi, The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation

Keynote Speaker

14:50 – 15:10     Space in the Bilateral Alliance
Hiroshi Yamakawa, JAXA

15:10 – 15:20     Question and Answer Session

Panel Discussion

15:20 – 15:40     Panel Introduction & Overview
Saadia Pekkanen (Moderator), University of Washington Jackson School

15:40 – 15:50     Space Activities in New Space Era
Chris Blackerby, Astroscale

15:50 – 16:00     Bilateral Security Concerns in the Second Space Age
Junichi Nishiyama, JISS

16:00 – 16:10     Space Activities Norms and Order in the Era of Newspace
Setsuko Aoki, Keio University

16:10 – 16:20     Small Satellites and Big: Data: Case Studies of Critical Space Applications for Maritime Domain Awareness (and their Importance to the Common Man)
John Mittleman, Maritime Domain Awareness Expert

16:20 – 16:30     Space and Opportunities for Commerce and Innovation in Japan
Naomi Kurahara, Infostellar

16:30 – 17:00     Public Question and Answer Period


The U.S.-Japan Space Forum is a standing committee of Japanese and American space policy experts, meeting regularly to examine critical developments and opportunities for bilateral and multilateral space-related activities. Reflecting the increasingly important role of the private sector in national space capabilities, the Forum integrates the perspectives of a wide array of experts, including corporate representatives alongside academic and government players, in an informal environment that is conducive to creative and frank discourse. The group ultimately aims to influence a space policy that yields a stronger basis for bilateral space collaboration and reflects both the evolving global security circumstances and the increasing importance of a robust and sustainable private sector to national space activities.

The Forum is sponsored by Boeing, IHI Corporation, MELCO, MHI, NEC, and Harris Corporation, with support from Keio University, U.S. Embassy Tokyo, Center for Rule-making Strategies at Tama University, and Keidanren.