Japan Press Weekly

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2012 February 1 - 7 [POLITICS]

DM considered using space technology for military purposes

The Defense Ministry had considered diverting leading-edge space-related technology for military purposes such as use for military satellites, reconnaissance, and space surveillance as part of its missile defense program.

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Yoshii Hidekatsu uncovered this fact from a document he obtained on February 2.

The document is a 666-page report on space-related technology compiled in 2009, assessing the potential of satellite development and operational capability as well as of rocket technology for military applications.

The report specifies the Infrared Rays Astronomical Satellite “AKARI” and the Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics “SPICA” as the necessary technologies for super-sensitizing an “early-warning satellite” system in order to detect the heat emitted using infrared sensors when an enemy launches a missile.

The report also considers the use of satellite technology which the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has in such military related fields as espionage, radio intelligence gathering, and military communication, and the use of the observation capability that the “Subaru Telescope” of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan has for the purpose of space surveillance.

The government is preparing to submit to the current Diet session draft revisions of the JAXA Establishment Act to delete a provision limiting JAXA activities to peaceful purposes from the law. If enacted, the revision will raise the possibility of mobilizing space researchers and engineers into military research.

Japan with its pacifist Constitution should strictly remain committed to peaceful uses of outer space, Akahata editorialized.