AMOS 2024 Day 2
Day 2
Thursday, 9/19/24
Keynote Address
Dr. Hiroshi Yamakawa, President, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Quotes:
National Space Policy of Japan
– Basic Space Law was enacted in 2008. Since then there have been several more.
– There are lots of dialogues and bilateral agreements between Japan and the US. US-Japan SSA Services and Information Agreement was signed in 2013.
– Many ministries have some kind of space budget. About 10. And JAXA is heavily involved.
– JAXA is developing, launching, and operating satellites so we’re also seen as an implementation agency and are a funding agency as of recently.
– JAXA is involved in ever aspect of space including SSA.
– Budget is about $6.4B USD. It’s only increasing.
SLIM Pinpoint Lunar Landing
– Smart Lunar Landing Missing January 2024. This is the first Japanese lunar lander and the world’s first lander that demonstrated pinpoint landing. This was realized by image-based navigation.
H3 Rocket Test Flight #2
– We hope to launch two more. Next gen is called H3. We were successful in test flight number two. We’re hoping this will be our main rocket.
Manned Pressurized Rover IA Signing
– Japan is participating in the Artemis program. The main thing is the manned pressurized rover.
– NSSA and Japan signed an arrangement in April 2024. This is going to be very exciting.
EarthCARE JAXA/ESA
– This satellite is a joint project. JAXA provided the cloud profiling radar. Goal is to improve the accuracy of climate change predictions. This was launched from Vandenburg.
ALOS-4
– Launched from Japan. Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4. It’s an L-band radar imaging satellite providing a wider observation swath with high spatial resolution.
Asteroid Sample Exchange
– We did this with NASA and JAXA on September 10, 2024. We did this to maximize scientific output.
Japanese SSA Activities
– We have ground sensors, optical sensors, and radar sensors.
– Japan’s Space Policy document stated Japan would establish an SDA system to ensure safe and stable utilization of outer space and JAXA will provide continuous support.
– We’re operating our own SSA system and we are contributing to Gov of Japan SSA system.
– We’re trying to contribute to international rule making and we’re engaging in R&D for debris removal.
– We are collaborating with US DOD under the SSA sharing agreement.
– We’re engaging daily and the number of notifications from CSpOC is increasing continuously. There are a lot of tasks that our team does every day. Every day JAXA is working to avoid collisions.
– JAXA promotes international discussions to promote rules and conduct for space. We’re also establishing standards. Just recently established a standard for on orbit service.
SSA R&D for Active Debris Removal
– This requires a lot of technology. We’re doing many complicated maneuvers. We’re focusing on our own debris as well.
– We’re doing a project for active debris removal and the first phase is done and we’re now on phase two which is ADR demonstration including rendezvous. We hope to realize this in two years. We’re also partnering with Astroscale on phase two.
JAXA Involvement in Asia Pacific SSA
– We have a lot of partners we’re working with. I can’t say anything specific but we’re working on it with a lot of other countries.
International SSA Sharing Agreements
– JAXA is sharing data only with the US right now. There might be plans to change that but not right now.
[End]
Panel – SSA Policy: SSA in the Asia-Pacific: Where We Are, Where We Are Going
Moderated by: Victoria Samson, Chief Director, Space Security and Stability, Secure World Foundation
Melrose Brown, Director, UNSW Canberra Space
Dan Ceperley, Founder & Chief Operating Officer, LeoLabs
Sittiporn Channumsin, Director of Space Technology Research Center, GISTDA
Lexie Weikert, Manager Business Development, National Security, Astroscale
Quotes:
What SSA Capabilities Are Needed
Brown
– Our baseline needs are probably all the same, keeping civilians safe, protecting commercial, and of course military purposes.
– Australia is just getting into the launch game. We’re also rapidly growing our space capabilities. Our needs are going to change rapidly and we’re going to need to respond.
– What we really need to work on is the use of SSA data and making good decisions.
Ceperley
– If you want an excellent STM you need excellent SDA. We’re seeing a lot of activities from new launches and reentries and more proximity operations that’s happening in the same orbits that’s heavily commercial. It’s an interesting recombination of the two topics, STM and SDA.
Astroscale Operations
Weikert
– A lot of our operators see an increasing need for SSA and this goes across all of our entities.
– The Asia Pacific is a very important theater we recognize and we need to push for safety.
– Astroscale requires niche and specific SSA capabilities to perform safe and specific operations.
LeoLabs Helping New Zealand Track
Ceperley
– New Zealand is the newest space faring nation with that fabulous rocket launch facility.
– When we got started, it was really exciting to speak to their delegation because they’re very proud of this capability. They feel the responsibility to bring the environment ethic to space as well.
– Our role has been monitoring the spacecraft and providing route information.
– New Zealand stepped forward on routine reporting and has been a great example for others.
Brown
– SSA and space sustainability has been a key pillar to us. New Zealand and new players have a real opportunity to start with a blank sheet of people and set a good example.
[End]
Victus Nox: Tactically Responsive Space – Space Domain Awareness Mission with Greg Less; Lt Col Jason Altenhofen
Quotes:
Lt Col Jason Altenhofen:
On Rapid Response and Flexibility:
“Our mission is to be able to rapidly integrate, employ space-based capabilities in response to those urgent operational needs and requirements.”
“We’re very focused on speed in terms of acquisition… taking high TRL capabilities, figuring out ways to integrate them, and deploying on short timelines.”
On Innovation in Space Systems:
“We’re not looking for the 100% solution. Oftentimes, 60-70% might be good enough if we can get it up there quickly.”
Collaboration Across Agencies:
“We worked very closely with SLD 30 and the range safety folks to modify a building at Vandenberg and build a new payload processing facility, enabling us to conduct the mission successfully.”
“We involved the 20th Space Surveillance Squadron to ensure we had the operational perspective and could use this concept for real operations in the future.”
Decision-Making Authority and Risk Management:
“We had a lot of trust from our leadership, which allowed us to push decision authority down and be
creative in solving challenges quickly.”
“We were willing to take mission risks if they were balanced appropriately, but we ensured that we were not compromising on safety.”
On Space and Space Force:
“We were set up three years ago by General Thompson out of Space Systems Command… Our mission is to rapidly integrate and employ space-based capabilities in response to urgent operational needs.”
“We’re leveraging the capabilities within the Space Force to address unknown unknowns and deliver on tactically relevant timelines, ensuring that we have the capacity, capabilities, and culture to meet these demands.”
On National Security:
“We’re really getting after having the capabilities and culture across the Space Force to respond rapidly to dynamic environments, ensuring that we can address the unknowns that impact national security.”
“This type of mission allows the U.S. to rapidly respond to adversarial actions, fitting into operational gaps that larger, slower programs may not address in time.”
Greg Less
On Operational Readiness and Execution:
“We knew we were going into 24-hour operations. We needed multiple shifts, backups, trained personnel, and a robust plan to ensure we were ready to respond as quickly as possible once we got that final order.”
“We ran through a couple of timed rehearsals trying to simulate everything that we could, validating our timeline, refining it, and covering the gaps to be as confident as possible when we did get the call.”
On Innovation in Space Systems:
“We pulled the bus off of our production line and took advantage of the fact that we’ve got 80% vertical integration across all of our common core components, giving us the flexibility to focus on modifying it for the specific mission.”
On Launches for the Mission
“We launched on time. We had 48 hours to get ready for the mission and we did it in 37, completing the activation phase in 57 hours and 43 minutes.”
“The call came at 0800 on Friday, September 8, and we had to be ready to launch within 24 hours once we got the final order parameters.”
“This mission was about pivoting to on-demand responses, which is a change in paradigm from our typical work where efficiency and success are measured differently, often requiring deeper staffing and flexible resource management.”
[End]