New Views of the Moon 2 – Asia 2018 (LPI Contrib. No. 2070) 6031.pdf

JAXA’s Space Exploration Scenario Naoki Sato, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Sengen 2-1-1, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki Japan, [email protected]

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has been studying space exploration scenario including Earth JAXA’s vision (20 years later) Far beyond (Mars, NEO, etc) human exploration for Japan since 2015, which en- Deep Space (2035～) Gateway compasses goals, knowledge gap assessment, architec- Large Human Rated Power Prop Bus(NASA) Rocket Crew Vehicle ture assessment, and technology roadmap. (NASA, Russia) (NASA, Russia) Logistics Module The overall goal of space exploration is divided in- Habitation Module (ESA, JAXA, etc.) to science and habitation. As for the habitation, the Fully Reusable Human Lunar Lander goal is assumed to stay 500 days on Mars utilizing lo- (JAXA, etc）

cal resources. Science goal and roadmap is also inves- Lunar base Fuel

tigated. Preliminary gap assessment shows that water Human Lunar Return Pressurized Rover (2030)(JAXA, etc.) Water ice prospecting Missions Lunar pole (JAXA, etc.) (2022)(JAXA, etc.) abundance on the moon is the critical knowledge gap Fuel Plant Construction (2030～) Scientific Lunar Exploration as well as radiation environment, and regolith charac- (Multiple Sites) teristics. Based on the overall architecture study, it was found that the transportation will become greatly effec- Fig. 1 JAXA proposed vision for space exploration tive if water abundance on the moon is more than a certain level. Also, the re-usability of the transportation Permanent capability on the Moon’s surface to enable system is the key enabler for the affordability and sus- sustainable space exploration with open partnership tainability of human space exploration. Such an archi- tecture study derived several key technology perfor- 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 mance goals. Toward such a technology goals, we also Deep Space Gateway Add Fuel Depot Remote Remote Lander w Re-usable Fully sample developed technology roadmap. Through these activi- Ops Ops Ascender Ascender Re-Usable ISECG Lander Human Lunar ties, we created a proposal for Japan’s space explora- SPR Full-fledged HERACLES Trans Surface Moon Exploration tion strategy for the political discussion. portation Exploration Demonstrated Fuel Fig.1 shows the overall vision for space exploration Technologies Fuel Water ice Production Fuel Plant Construction after 20 years from now, which was proposed by JAXA Prospecting Demo Fully Re-usable Lander Development to the political discussion. Also, Fig. 2 shows the over- ESA/JAXA SELENE-R Joint WG all scenario for the vision. ESA’s Moon Village Because we believe the water abundance is critical for future overall space exploration architecture, the proposed first step is a water ice prospecting mission to Fig. 2 JAXA proposed space exploration scenario lunar pole. In parallel with that, along with the Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) 3rd edition developed by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), it is proposed to participate in the Deep Space Gateway and Robotic Demonstrator for Human Landing Mission (called HERACLES) planned in 2020’s. If enough abundant water was found, it is also proposed to develop fuel production capability and finally to construct fuel plan on the lunar pole. International Space Station (ISS) is also the key el- ement for the space exploration because it is the most suitable facility to demonstrate key technologies for space exploration such as Environment Control and Life Support System (ECLSS), human health care technologies, rendezvous and docking technologies and so on. JAXA is also planning to use the ISS as much as possible leveraging operation opportunity and the right of ISS utilization.