U.S. and Japan to cooperate on return to the moon

"Japan will join our mission to send U.S. astronauts to space. We'll be going to the moon. We'll be going to Mars very soon. It's very exciting."

After his meetings with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, President Donald Trump has revealed that the United States will 'dramatically expand' its cooperation with Japan in human space exploration. The two had "agreed on the importance of a sustained human presence on and around the moon." The U.S. State Department stated that "Japanese astronauts will strive to join American astronauts on the moon and destinations beyond." The article shows excitement on both NASA administrators and the JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) president for future collaboration.

This agreement certainly does look positive for future US-Japan relations, and I am excited to see more collaboration in space endeavors. Recently, NASA has accelerated its plans to return humans to the moon by 2024 and are clearly marketing this move for as many people to see through press release and youtube videos (ex. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9KQfnqukno), which makes it seem like they're serious about achieving this goal. The article also discusses how international partners including Japan will fit into this new plan. It says that while NASA plans on getting humans to the moon by 2024, it seems unlikely that Japanese and other partners will play a major role in this stage of the process.

Still, this seems very positive and it seems that even before this meeting that Japan was serious about making the move to go to Mars. An article posted in late 2018 revealed that JAXA was already in the planning stages of further missions to the moon to more accurately figure out how life can be supported. This follows Japan's success with sending their space probe, Kaguya, to the moon in 2009 to detect different minerals on the moon's surface. The article also states that some observers claim that this recent attitude towards lunar development may have been prompted by the success of China's Jade Rabbit lunar rover mission in 2013. Moreover, in January of this year, China became the first country to successfully land a space craft on the far side of the moon.

The geopolitical implications of this agreement between US and Japan do seem to be interesting. Apparently, NASA has been banned by the US Government since 2011 from cooperating with China in space exploration due to concerns regarding "national security and technology transfers." However, another article says that NASA scientists still cooperated with China on the landing I mentioned earlier, so I'm not sure if the ban is taken seriously. Nonetheless, the diplomatic meeting between Trump and Shinzo Abe seems to reflect better US Japan relations amid tensions with China and North Korea, and the joint agreement for space exploration between the two and the level to which it has been publicized seems to indicate a stronger bond between the two countries, at least in space exploration. If NASA really is serious about getting us to the moon and staying there, we know Japan will certainly be a major player.

Other Articles:
- https://www.dw.com/en/japanese-companies-plan-to-build-moon-colonies/a-45574697
- https://www.space.com/42883-china-first-landing-moon-far-side.html
- https://qz.com/1523812/nasa-and-china-cooperated-in-recent-landing-on-far-side-of-the-moon/