Extraordinary commercial opportunities are out there. From next-gen satellite services and orbital infrastructure to climate monitoring, space situational awareness and countless other advances. Yet most of these hinge on international collaboration. To accelerate this imperative, we gathered key stakeholders together in Tokyo to pose them a key question – what does that collaboration look like in practice?
The platform for our discussions was SPACETIDE 2025, the leading commercial space conference in APAC (Asia-Pacific). The commercial remit I have at CC means the region is very much my focus, and I was thrilled by the knowledge and dynamism on display throughout the event. Japanese space industries are more than playing their part in significant progress, nationally, regionally and also on a global stage.
Perhaps the most compelling aspect of the burgeoning space economy is its limitless potential. Space will influence so much of what we do as humans – either because it is enabled by space or because we use space to make previously impossible things happen. Right now, most people know about the role of space in enabling satellite comms, satellite navigation and maybe weather forecasting. However, not many are aware yet of the growing number of new applications that are rapidly emerging.
Zero gravity, for example, creates some very unusual (from a terrestrial perspective) behaviours in chemical reactions, materials science and biology. This makes space an experimental hotspot for drug discovery and development in the pharmaceutical industry. Meanwhile, bio-semiconductors are being utilised in space to study the effects of microgravity on human biology and disease. Even food and beauty products are being advanced by emerging techniques in space manufacturing, leveraging microgravity and vacuum conditions that are hard to replicate on Earth.
A pivotal driver is of course the democratisation of space access. Up until a few years ago, the costs involved in launching anything in space meant that only government entities and large corporations could gain access. With the advent of reusable launch vehicles, it’s now possible to get an experimental payload in space for a few hundred thousand dollars. And these costs are expected to keep dropping. Also instrumental to this change is the accompanying shift from national and governmental led missions to private enterprise led missions.
The International Space Station (ISS) has been in orbit for a quarter of a century, enabling scientific research and technology progress thanks to the collaboration between the United States, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada. But as the ISS nears its decommissioning by the beginning of the next decade, a number of private companies are now lining up to take on the mantle.
Those organisations include Axiom Space, which was represented at our SPACETIDE panel discussion by the astronaut and CTO Koichi Wakata. He’s previously worked for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for three decades and acknowledged the switch from government supported activities to the commercial exploration of space.
Koichi Wakata shared his view of what international collaboration looks like. He described the plans to launch the new Axiom space station in the next couple of years and referring with pride his involvement in getting astronauts from India, Poland, Hungary and others to the ISS. In his view, further success hinges on initiating a strong framework – an ecosystem of stakeholders – to propel advances.
As he put it: “That’s why I think organisations like Cambridge Consultants can help and work as a bridge between governments, industry and academia to help secure the resources, the people, the engineering that’s needed to tackle the very fundamental, critical and challenging tasks ahead.”
UK and Japanese space collaboration
My colleague Dr Miles Upton, CC’s General Manager, APAC, was moderator for the panel discussion. He also introduced Tania Celani, Deputy Director for Space in the UK government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. She warmed to the theme of strengthening UK and Japanese collaboration in the new space economy and responded to Miles’ question about how governments set frameworks for collaboration.
She said: “For example we have the Outer Space Treaty that provides the baseline for peaceful cooperation and data sharing. In the UK, we are very active at the UN Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Really that’s where countries get together to look at standards, governance and regulation for space in the future. But we’re constantly having to review and make sure that regulatory standards are fit for purpose, that they can keep pace with technological development as well.”
These themes of international collaboration, driven by private companies yet supported by governmental frameworks, predominated during the debate, which also involved Yohei Yamamoto, VP Strategy, Space Compass Corporation, Hirokazu Mori, Group CSO & CEO at Warpspace USA and Ian Christensen Senior Director, Private Sector Programs at Secure World Foundation. He tabled the vital issue of space sustainability, and the need for our global society to ensure a stable environment to benefit from space applications, technology and services.
I’ve been able to share just a taste of the discussions here, but I recommend that you dive into the video below to catch up with all the ideas, insights and innovations that were revealed by our eminent guests. And if you’d like to share your views – and further the debate on international collaboration and commercial advantage in the space economy – then please reach out to me. I’d love to continue the conversation.
Expert authors
Sandro helps CC’s established and growing client base in Japan to gain a defendable market position by developing solutions to problems that are easy to state but hard to realise.
