Spaceflight

JAXA president outlines 2008 goals

By Rob Coppinger

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) president Keiji Tachikawa has outlined his agency's goals for 2008, referring to the next 12 months as the "dawn" year.

Over three NASA Space Shuttle missions JAXA's Kibo International Space Station experiment module systems will be attached to the ISS, three Japanese astronauts are scheduled to fly, and the agency foresees the use of its satellites for environmental studies and disaster preparations.

"We would like to work on new Moon and asteroid exploration missions," says Tachikawa. Last year saw JAXA's Kaguya/Selene orbiter reach the Moon and the agency's asteroid probe Hayabusa began its return journey.