Tanya Weaver Fri 22 Nov 2024
Collected at: https://eandt.theiet.org/2024/11/22/european-and-japanese-space-agencies-strengthen-tie-explore-asteroids-moon-and-beyond
The European Space Agency (ESA) has deepened its relationship with Japanese counterpart the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) under a new joint statement that will see them collaborate further.
Over the past two decades ESA and Jaxa have collaborated on a number of missions. The most recent is the EarthCARE satellite , which lifted off in May 2024 to study clouds and aerosols in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The latest joint statement between the two involves collaborating on ESA’s Ramses mission to the asteroid Apophis. Roughly 375 metres across, the asteroid will pass within 32,000 km from Earth’s surface on 13 April 2029. Being this close to Earth is an extremely rare natural phenomenon.
As part of ESA’s Space Safety programme, the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses) mission will rendezvous with the asteroid and accompany it through its flyby of Earth. Researchers will study the asteroid as Earth’s gravity alters its physical characteristics. ESA says that the findings will improve our ability to defend our planet from any similar object found to be on a collision course in the future.
The tie-up with Jaxa could potentially include providing thermal infrared images and solar array wings, as well as launch opportunities. The joint statement also reinforces ESA and Jaxa cooperation on the Gateway programme to create a crewed space station orbiting the Moon.
Additionally it outlines collaboration on other lunar missions, including each agency’s contribution to the Artemis programme . ESA will be contributing the Argonaut lunar cargo lander to the programme, while Jaxa signed a deal with Nasa earlier this year to design a pressurised lunar rover for crewed and uncrewed exploration on the Moon.
Other possibilities for collaboration under the joint statement could include Jaxa engineers using ESA’s recently opened lunar analogue facility to test lunar technologies on Earth and building on ESA’s Moonlight programme to create a lunar communications and navigation service by putting a commercial constellation of satellites around the Moon.
Apart from missions into space, the two agencies have proposed to continue working together in space science, including the ESA-led New Athena X-ray telescope for high-energy astrophysics due to launch in 2037.
Possibilities also exist to work together on bigger and longer-term projects focused on the moons of the giant planets and the Jaxa-led LiteBird gravitational wave telescope.
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