Analysis: Taiwanese rocket startup may be early test of Japan's space hub plans

IHI

25/07/2024 03:54

By Kantaro  Komiya
       TOKYO, July 25 (Reuters) - A Taiwanese startup aims to
become the first foreign firm to launch a rocket from Japan by
early next year, part of a plan industry advocates say will aid
Tokyo's ambitions of becoming a space hub in Asia.
    The planned suborbital launch by TiSpace has faced
regulatory hurdles and delays amid questions over whether Japan
should embrace overseas business as part of its effort to double
the size of its 4 trillion yen ($26 billion) space industry over
the next decade.
    The private firm, co-founded in 2016 by current and former
officials from Taiwan's space agency, has not had a successful
launch. Its most recent attempt to fly a rocket, via its sister
company AtSpace in Australia in 2022, failed because of an
oxidizer leak. The rocket to be tested in Japan is a different
design.
    "This (planned launch) should be a very good case for the
Japanese government," TiSpace chairman Yen-sen Chen told Reuters
in an interview. "If that goes smoothly, then you will attract
more customers from other countries." 
    He said the firm is waiting on one last regulatory approval,
a radio permit that will enable the launch of the company's
12-metre (39 ft) sounding rocket, which he hopes will occur by
early 2025. A sounding rocket can reach space but does not
achieve orbit.
    Some analysts have said launching a Taiwanese rocket in
Japan might draw the attention of China, which claims Taiwan as
its own over the strong objections of the government in Taipei,
and monitors the island's advancements in missile-related
technologies. But so far, Chen said, he had not heard any
concerns.
    China's foreign ministry said it was "not aware of the
relevant circumstances" of the launch.
    Japan's Cabinet Office said "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 met with TiSpace in March 2023 in what the embassy called
a "courtesy visit" but the embassy declined to comment further,
saying the launch was a private-sector matter.
    TiSpace is the only Taiwanese company attempting launches.
One of the company's other co-founders, Wu Jong-shinn, is now
the head of Taiwan's space agency. The agency declined to
comment on its relationship with TiSpace and said all its launch
services are conducted through public tender.  
    The company's endeavour has won support among Japanese space
businesses, especially in the remote agricultural town of Taiki,
on the northern island of Hokkaido, which will host the launch.
Officials and experts cite the benefits of inviting foreign
companies.
    Yuko Nakagawa, a ruling-party lawmaker representing Taiki
and neighbouring communities, said TiSpace's project was "a
symbol of Taiwan-Japan friendship" and a tailwind for an
international business complex that local officials call a
"space Silicon Valley".
    Japan wants its private space industry to be worth more than
$50 billion by the early 2030s, launch 30 rockets a year and
become Asia's space transportation hub, according to the latest
government plans.
    Jun Kazeki, the top official overseeing Japan's space
strategy in the Cabinet Office, declined to comment on TiSpace's
plans. There may be "future possibilities to utilise overseas
transportation technologies", but Japanese rockets are the
government's priority, he said.
    Government launches are typically carried out by
Japanese-built boosters such as the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
 7011.T  H3. Private satellite operators often use foreign
launch companies such as SpaceX and ArianeGroup outside Japan.
    A senior Japanese official involved in the space sector
cautioned that a foreign company launching orbital payloads from
Japan would require close government scrutiny and high
regulatory hurdles.
    Because Japan's Space Activities Act does not govern
sub-orbital launches such as TiSpace's, the central government
does not need to give final approval for the launch. Tokyo plans
to change that law to encompass suborbital flights and reusable
rockets, but revisions are expected to take years.
    
    LOCAL INDUSTRY
    Motoko Mizuno, an opposition lawmaker and former official at
JAXA, the country's space agency, said she was cautious about
Japan opening up to foreign companies, with which local
launchers might not be able to compete on price.
    Japan is negotiating a space technology safeguards agreement
with the United States that could also pave the way for U.S.
commercial launches in Japan.
    Although JAXA has launched domestically developed rockets
for decades, the country's private rocket industry is nascent.
    Space One, backed by Aerospace giant IHI  7013.T , saw its
rocket blow up during its inaugural launch in March. Taiki-based
Interstellar Technologies in 2019 became the first Japanese firm
to have a sounding rocket reach space but has not followed up
with an orbital launch.
    Yoshinori Odagiri, the chief executive of Space Cotan, which
operates the Hokkaido Spaceport in Taiki, said a couple of
European companies have expressed interest in its launch
complex.
    Tadashi Morimitsu, a local official in southwestern Oita
prefecture, another budding space hub in Japan, which is
partnering with U.S. spaceplane company Sierra Space, said
TiSpace's progress in Hokkaido encapsulates a "welcome
phenomenon" of overseas space businesses using Japanese
spaceports.
        Globally, more than 50 spaceports are being built, but
"they may end up with maybe five to 10 which can be 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 said it
plans to expand its manufacturing capacity in Japan to serve
Japanese customers.
    One such potential client, Hokkaido-based Letara, has
already inquired about whether TiSpace can carry its satellite
propulsion system to space for testing. 
    "We don't ask if the company is domestic or foreign, as long
as they can launch," said Letara co-founder Shota Hirai. 

($1 = 156.4800 yen)

 (Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Additional reporting by Sakura
Murakami in Tokyo, and Yi-Mou Lee in Taipei; Writing by John
Geddie; Editing by Gerry Doyle)
 ((John.Geddie@thomsonreuters.com; +81 80 7264 2833;))