Nasa eyes Japan's spacecraft
2008-07-21 13:29
Tokyo - Nasa has begun unofficial
negotiations with Japan's space agency on purchasing units of
an unmanned cargo transfer spacecraft as the successor to its
space shuttles, the Yomiuri newspaper said on Sunday.
Such a deal would be the biggest in Japan's 50-year space
development history, the paper added.
The H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV), which costs about $131m each, is being developed by the
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) and domestic
companies including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and
Mitsubishi Electric Corp, the Yomiuri said.
Behind the move is Nasa's concern that the retirement of
its space shuttles in 2010 will make it difficult for the US
to fulfil its responsibilities to deliver water, food and
materials for scientific experiments to the International Space
Station, the paper said.
In April, Nasa started a project to assist US companies'
development of a spacecraft to succeed the space shuttle, but
it is uncertain whether the successor could be developed in the
two years left before the retirement, and that prompted Nasa to
discuss buying foreign spacecraft, the paper said.
Japan's HTV, which is capable of carrying a maximum of six
tonnes of cargo, will be introduced next autumn, and the
spacecraft will be launched at the rate of one per year, the
paper said.
No one at Jaxa could be reached for comment, but the
Yomiuri quoted the space agency as saying it has been
unofficially discussing the matter with Nasa since February.