NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine met with Hiroshi Yamakawa, president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), on Sept. 24 in Tokyo to discuss future bilateral cooperation and JAXA's potential participation in NASA's Artemis program.
"We have committed to continuing the close dialogue that has been the hallmark of collaboration between our two agencies," Bridenstine said.
"The Moon is the first major step to putting astronauts on Mars. Expanding collaboration between NASA and JAXA to advance human lunar surface activities ultimately will lead to further exploration of Mars – something that will benefit not only our two countries, but all of humanity."
They identified several areas in which the United States and Japan can extend scientific and technological cooperation to advance sustainable exploration of the Moon, including on the lunar Gateway and the Moon's surface.
They also discussed the possibility of NASA collaboration on JAXA's Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon (SLIM) mission, and JAXA's plans to launch CubeSats to launch on NASA's Artemis I mission.
