Asian Angle | How Japan can edge out China to become a world leader in cleaning up space junk
- Orbital debris is a growing problem that urgently needs to be dealt with. China has made some progress, but its efforts have been met with scepticism
- Japan has the advanced technologies, specialised know-how and international trustworthiness that make it an obvious choice to lead clean-up efforts
Imagine a piece of debris the size of a coin. While harmless enough in your hand, such a scrap of detritus in low-Earth orbit would be moving fast enough to destroy satellites. And there are, by some estimates, nearly 170 million objects of similar size or smaller currently whizzing around our planet – many of them too small to be tracked.
Debris mitigation is of particular interest to Japan, whose approach to the issue as one of the world’s leading space actors can be characterised by multisectoral collaboration at the national level and active participation in international rule-making platforms.
The Japan Space Exploration Agency (JAXA) forms the backbone of the country’s aerospace development and utilisation endeavours, overseeing space activities and simultaneously advancing international cooperation. Space sustainability, defined as the ability to maintain the conduct of space activities indefinitely into the future, is at the core of JAXA’s work.