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Japan took a step towards becoming a major player in the space business
last week when the government-funded National Space Development Agency began
handing over space technology to private industry.

The first beneficiary of the privatisation plan is Rocket Systems, a
consortium of 75 Japanese companies. NASDA will give it technology relating
to the H-II rocket, designed to be Japan’s new-generation heavy lifter.
The 49-metre rocket has an advanced liquid-fuel engine capable of taking
2-tonne satellites into geostationary orbit.

‘Our plan is for NASDA to continue research and development, but to
transfer technology to the private sector once the development stage nears
completion,’ says Masa’aki Tanaka, deputy director of the space development
division of the government’s Science and Technology Agency, which oversees
NASDA.

NASDA’s plans follow the standard pattern for Japanese industries in
a market where Japan is internationally weak. The government dictates and
subsidises research and development until fledgling industries can stand
on their own feet. Then the private sector is allowed to take over under
continuing government guidance. It is a formula which has worked before
in everything from cars to electronics.

The government also intends to transfer technology of the smaller TR1-A
rocket to the private sector. The TR1-A is used mainly for lower-orbit experiments.

The H-II is intended to replace Japan’s current standard rocket, the
H-I, which has around a quarter of the lifting power of the new rocket.
Rocket Systems has already put in a bid to launch satellites with the H-II
for the Inmarsat, the international marine satellite organisation, although
the rocket is not expected to make a test flight until 1993. Commercial
launches could begin in 1995.

The Japanese have been accused of trying to muscle in on an already
crowded field, and Rocket Systems’ bid to Inmarsat is seen as somewhat premature
considering the technical difficulties encountered with the H-II. The rocket’s
first-stage booster has experienced some spectacular failures since development
began in 1986. It caught fire twice during early tests. In August last year
a propulsion device exploded during pressure testing, killing an engineer.
This latest accident may delay the first test launch but the Japanese see
the accidents as teething troubles.

The transfer of H-II technology is just a first step in the privatisation
programme. ‘There is a possibility that we could export some of our technology
to the United States,’ says Tanaka. ‘But there is a condition: any technology
transfer must be for peaceful use only. Overall, I think the effect of the
move to privatise space technology development will be to make it more dynamic.’

Other projects in the pipeline are the J-1, a smaller rocket capable
of carrying a 200-kilogram payload into geostationary orbit, and an unmanned
mini-shuttle called HOPE (H-II orbiting plane). ‘In the long term we expect
to transfer this technology also,’ says Tanaka.