A Taiwanese business plans to launch the first rocket from Japan by early next year, contributing to Tokyo’s goal of becoming an Asian space hub, according to industry advocates.
TiSpace’s planned suborbital flight has encountered regulatory challenges and delays, raising issues about whether Japan should embrace international enterprise as part of its aim to double the size of its 4 trillion yen ($26 billion) space industry over the next decade.
The private enterprise, created in 2016 by current and former officials from Taiwan’s space agency, has yet to debut. Its most recent effort to launch a rocket, via its Australian sibling business AtSpace in 2022, failed due to an oxygen leak. The rocket being tested in Japan has a distinct design.
“This (planned launch) should be a very good case for the Japanese government,” TiSpace chairman Yen-sen Chen told Reuters in a recent interview. “If that goes smoothly, then you will attract more customers from other countries.”
He stated that the company is awaiting one more regulatory license, a radio permit, which will let it to launch its 12-metre (39-foot) sounding rocket by early 2025. A sounding rocket can reach space but cannot enter orbit.
According to some commentators, launching a Taiwanese rocket in Japan may attract the attention of China, which claims Taiwan as its own despite strong opposition from the Taipei administration and closely observes the island’s developments in missile-related technologies. But, so far, Chen said he hasn’t heard any concerns.
The Chinese foreign ministry claimed it was “not aware of the relevant circumstances” surrounding the launch.
According to Japan’s Cabinet Office, “free economic and research activities are guaranteed in Japan within the scope of laws and regulations”. An official from Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Japan paid a “courtesy visit” to TiSpace in March 2023, but the embassy declined to comment further, citing the launch as a private-sector concern.
TiSpace is the sole Taiwanese business attempting launches. Wu Jong-shinn, one of the company’s other co-founders, now heads Taiwan’s space agency. The agency refuses to comment on its relationship with TiSpace, stating that all of its launch services are procured through public bidding.
The company’s efforts have received support from Japanese space firms, particularly in the distant rural town of Taiki on the northern island of Hokkaido, which will host the launch. Officials and experts discuss the advantages of welcoming international companies.
Yuko Nakagawa, a ruling-party politician representing Taiki and neighboring areas, described TiSpace’s initiative as “a symbol of Taiwan-Japan friendship” and a boost for a worldwide commercial complex dubbed a “space Silicon Valley” by local officials.
According to the latest government projections, Japan’s private space economy will be valued more than $50 billion by the early 2030s, with 30 rockets launched each year and the country positioned as Asia’s space transit hub.
Jun Kazeki, Japan’s chief space strategist in the Cabinet Office, declined to comment on TiSpace’s intentions. There may be “future opportunities to use overseas transportation technologies,” but Japanese rockets are the government’s first priority, he stated.
Government launches are typically carried out by Japanese-built boosters like the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T) (opens new tab H3). Outside of Japan, private satellite operators frequently rely on international launch companies like SpaceX and ArianeGroup.
A top Japanese space official warned that a foreign corporation launching orbital payloads from Japan would face intense government scrutiny and stringent regulatory requirements.
Because Japan’s Space Activities Act does not apply to suborbital launches like TiSpace’s, the central government is not required to issue final approval for the launch. Tokyo intends to amend the law to include suborbital flights and reusable rockets, but amendments are estimated to take years.
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Motoko Mizuno, an opposition politician and former JAXA official, expressed concern about Japan’s opening up to international corporations, with which local launchers may struggle to compete on price.
Japan is now discussing a space technology safeguards agreement with the United States, which might clear the door for US commercial launches in Japan.
JAXA has been launching domestically manufactured rockets for decades, but the country’s commercial rocket industry is still in its early stages.
Space One, financed by aerospace major IHI, had its rocket explode during its first flight in March. Interstellar Technologies, based in Taiki, was the first Japanese company to send a sounding rocket into space in 2019, but has yet to launch an orbital vehicle.
Yoshinori Odagiri, CEO of Space Cotan, which administers the Hokkaido Spaceport in Taiki, stated that a few European businesses have indicated interest in the launch complex.
Tadashi Morimitsu, a local official in southwestern Oita prefecture, another emerging space hub in Japan that is collaborating with US spaceplane manufacturer Sierra Space, said TiSpace’s growth in Hokkaido exemplifies a “welcome phenomenon” of international space enterprises using Japanese spaceports.
More than 50 spaceports are being built worldwide, but “they may end up with maybe five to ten that are truly successful and self-sustaining in the long term,” said Boston Consulting Group principal Alessio Bonucci.
If TiSpace’s test launch is successful, the company intends to increase its manufacturing capacity in Japan to better serve Japanese clients.
One such potential client, Hokkaido-based Letara, has already enquired about TiSpace’s ability to transport its satellite propulsion system to orbit for testing.
“We don’t care whether the company is domestic or foreign, as long as it can launch,” said Letara co-founder Shota Hirai.
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