Vision '25 - Vatican's USA Branches Interested

Japan Dreams of Robot Moon Base in 2025

Paul Kallender, IDG News Service Mon Jun 20, 4:00 AM ET

TOKYO-- Japan wants to help build a lunar base and populate it with
advanced versions of today's humanoid robots by around 2025, according
to the head of the nation's space agency.
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The idea is more than a pipe-dream; it is part of a 20-year plan,
called JAXA Vision 2025, that was drawn up by Keiji Tachikawa, a former
president of Japan's largest mobile operator NTT
DoCoMo, who is now president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency(JAXA).

As part of the plan, Japan would use advanced robotic technologies to
help build the moon base, while redeveloped versions of today's
humanoid robots, such as Honda Motor's Asimo and Sony's Qrio, could
work in the moon's inhospitable environment in place of astronauts, he
said in a recent interview.

Japan's lunar robots would do work such as building telescopes and
prospecting and mining for minerals, Tachikawa said.

"I see a big role for Japan's robotics technologies on the moon," he
said. "Japanese robots will be one of our big contributions. If there
is work where robots can replace humans, they will."
U.S. Also Interested

Tachikawa's plan follows a January 2004 decision by U.S.
President George W. Bush that the U.S., with the assistance of partners
including Japan, should build a lunar base by about 2020 and use it as
a staging point for the human exploration of Mars.

The plan has struck a chord in Japan, which has long harbored dreams of
building such a base.

Along with robots and robotic equipment, Japan's high-tech and
industrial giants may also develop versions of more traditionally
earthbound products for use in space.

"Honda could develop automobiles for the moon. Many products that are
made here on earth can be adapted to operate on the moon," Tachikawa
said.

Japan already has many of the technologies that it would need for its
ambitions in space. Along with its better-known humanoid robots, the
nation is also a leader in equipment such as robotic arms for space
construction.
Robot Satellites

NEC and other Japanese companies are building experimental "robot
satellites" that will be able to service, repair and refuel other
satellites. Toshiba is supplying several parts for the $100 billion
International Space Station, a gigantic floating laboratory with solar
panels that spread the length of a football pitch. The parts from
Toshiba include a highly dextrous, 9.7-meter robot arm.

Japan's space program was established in 1969, a few months after the
American astronaut Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. In the late
1990s, a leading Japanese think tank proposed that Japan launch over
100 rockets carrying robots and materials to help establish a Japanese
outpost by 2020.

The proposal was ruled out because of costs, however. Soon after, three
of Japan's satellite launches failed catastrophically, casting doubt on
the nation's rocket technologies.

JAXA's annual space budget is only about $1.5 billion, or one tenth of
NASA's. Following its own failures, Japan's space program has
historically looked to the United States for leadership, so the
realization of Tachikawa's dream may depend on the America's continued
commitment to return to the moon

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