Japan Wants Space Plane or Capsule by 2022

According to livescience.com , Japan hopes to be launching astronauts aboard a manned capsule or space plane by 2022, and the nation is also eyeing point-to-point suborbital transportation over the longer haul.

The capsule or mini-shuttle — which may resemble Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser space plane — would each accommodate a crew of three and carry up to 880 pounds (400 kilograms) of cargo, officials with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said this month.

The mini-shuttle would weigh 26,400 pounds (11,975 kg) and land at one of five suitable runways worldwide. Because a launch abort from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center would mean a Pacific Ocean landing, the space plane would also have to be able to cope with the sea.

LINK

They can play with space shuttles after they clean up their mess and wash their hands.

..until then I dont want to hear of any space play.

..They are grounded until I think they have done their part to clean up the mess they created..and some.

Originally posted by Common Good
They can play with space shuttles after they clean up their mess and wash their hands.

..until then I dont want to hear of any space play.

..They are grounded until I think they have done their part to clean up the mess they created..and some.

Great Point .Until they don't clean those Nuclear Wastes , they should be grounded .
Even knowing the fact that they are vunerable to earthquakes , they created lots and lots of Nuclear power plants . Now because of their stupidity , we all are suffering

They want a space plane? The Devil wants Ice Water, I'm sure...

I think Japan has far more important things for it's own people's sake, to focus on. I wonder how the Japanese people feel about their Government reaching for the stars while they drowning in debt?

Japanese debt stacked around the destroyed Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. Japan could have built a wall of money to keep Fukushima safe from the Tsunami, with all the money they borrowed.
Fukushima Power Plant compared to the trucks is GIANT.

Japan is a unique example. It holds a MASSIVE 225% debt to economy ratio. This is only possible because of loyalty of Japanese people to the Japanese government. Japan's people are the main buyers of Japanese government debt, and as long as they blindly buy the debt, and interest rates don't go up, they can practically run up the debt indefinitely. The issues start when everyone starts wondering how they will get the money back.

While historically having a good export surplus; Japan still has two "lost decades", where it has experienced no economic growth. This is mainly due to the large amounts of debt.

Source

Japan is clear down at the bottom. Only one nation in the world has more more debt than Japan. That would be us.

I thought the example they used to visualize the debt on that link was interesting too. Indeed... Japan has more than one mess to clean up before they ought to be thinking mega-billion dollar space efforts. Come to think of it...So does the U.S.. Hmmm The really bad part is, Japan is only a few trillion below us in total debt while they have only 1/3rd our population. I imagine that's a scary looking per household debt figure by comparison too.

reply to post by UltraMarine


Especially those in Japan, and surrounding areas.

Even the little fish. Poor guys.

I think environmental crimes of mega disaster should be met with the strictest of punishments up to and including the death penalty.

But they dont care what we think. Unless it effects their cash flow.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
The really bad part is, Japan is only a few trillion below us in total debt while they have only 1/3rd our population. I imagine that's a scary looking per household debt figure by comparison too.

So this means Japanese are in more trouble than US in dept crisis.

Originally posted by Common Good
reply to post by UltraMarine

 

I think environmental crimes of mega disaster should be met with the strictest of punishments up to and including the death penalty.

Japan so easily got away with the Nuclear disaster crime , How could they ? They should have used every resource to stop that disaster , but they didn't . Now i hear , they are draining back those water used to cool the Reactor back to Ocean .

reply to post by Common Good


I would much rather see the execs lose all their money and be forced to work in the disaster zone themselves untill it is clean, radioactive or not.

Also as for the space plane, well I think all countries should strive to get into space. It is the corps fault and I think the people of Japan should have some kind of aspiration whilst cleaning up the mess. I would hate for all my dreams to be shattered because a group of people in the country were greedy or cut corners.

americans criticising the japanese on a nuclear accident caused by a massive tsunami after they nuked them twice and killed 100,000 people

now that's funny.

Originally posted by randomname
americans criticising the japanese on a nuclear accident caused by a massive tsunami after they nuked them twice and killed 100,000 people

now that's funny.

You are right. We Americans shouldnt say anything. Lets just sit back and watch this environmental disaster that is STILL NOT CONTAINED continue to not be contained.

While we are at it- lets just tell BP not to worry about it.

Along with all the rest of those responsible.

Leave grandpas buisness to grandpa,

reply to post by randomname

Indeed... We were only ending a war where the Japanese did things like murder 300,000 civilians in the Rape of Nanking, China.

Does World War II and the Atomic Weapons have to come into everything? I'm lost where that has anything to do with Japan nuclear safety many decades later in a world that has virtually nothing in common with 1945.

@UltraMarine

That's about how I read it. The financial stories discussing the same issue seem to suggest about the same thing. The debt works as long as the Japanese holding their Gov'ts debt don't start asking for it back. Japan holds around a trillion in U.S. debt, the last I checked too.

You know, I wonder...when you think about that, I suppose the U.S. would be in an equally bad spot if everyone holding T-bills and US bonds who could cash them, up and did it all around the same time. ..or tried to.. Err...

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
Indeed... We were only ending a war where the Japanese did things like murder 300,000 civilians in the Rape of Nanking, China.

Not even close. That occurred 5 years before the USA got involved in the war.
And its not like the USA stepped forward for it either. Kinda got dragged into it again its will.

The USA can claim credit for going against Japan doing many things, but the Nanking thing is not on that list.

reply to post by alfa1

Umm.. Wrong. We joined a war already in progress, and that atrocity was part of it. Not only that, but America did, technically, take a combat loss in the Japanese attack on the city.

During the day, troops of the Japanese 114th Division wooed 1,500 Chinese troops into surrendering at the southern side of the city wall, promising to spare them their lives; they were all executed by the end of the following day. In the afternoon, Japanese bombers sank the American gunboat USS Panay in Nanjing, China at 1554 hours. At 1700 hours, Tang met with his officers again (several of whom were absent, having fled the city without permission) and was told that the Japanese were advancing faster than anticipated.

Source

China was still being torn up when Japan finally went a step too far and brought America into the war formally in 1941. American Diplomats and Red Cross were among those helping to shield the Chinese civilians from the slaughter though..so we were involved in more ways than simply the loss of the Panay.

You know though? I mentioned this to point out just how far out of topic it was, bringing the Atomic Bombs into it. Some folks just seem to HUNT for any possible opportunity to throw that back into threads. I sure hadn't expected a reply to take an example of out of topic..even further. lol...

Yeah since there country will most likely be unlivable soon, It would be a great idea to get out in space because no other country will take them on board

The japanese have a lot of problems.

1. Demographics, ageing population, the young cannot afford to have families so they aren't. Japanese racial attitudes prevent overcoming this with immigrants willing to work for scraps and breed like rabbits (like other countries are doing).
2. Economy, 2 decades of stagnation. They are living in a dream world because they print and buy their own debt (the way the USA prints and gets others to buy it due to the relationship between the dollar and oil).
3. Resources, Japan is resource poor. It always has been. It was the drive to obtain resources to fuel the empire that led imperial japan to war in the 1930s.

Japan needs nuclear. Where they went wrong was adopting poor american boiling water reactor designs and failing to install adequate protections against the environmental hazard. The lesson will be learned.

Japan has noticed there is a lot of money to be made in high tech weapons. The big japanese corporate behemoths have been prevented from playing in this market until last year as their political system prohibited weapons exports. This was changed last year. Expect lots more Japanese money to be spent in aerospace and weapons as they attempt to capitalise on their high tech expertise in weapon sales. Its logical, they need the exports badly.

On top of that I don't think they fully trust the USA to defend them from China into the longer term. Expect a lot of non traditional defence collaboration between Japan and others.

They are proceeding on a basis logical for them given how the world looks from where they are sitting.

Fukushima wont be the end of japan much less the world.

reply to post by Common Good

may i ask where are you from ?

the good old USA

glass houses

Japan needs to clean up their own mess before launching a space craft into space. They should of had this mess cleaned up before they even decided to put nuke power plants on a earthquake prone land.
they could of made sure they had their bums well covered if a earthquake/tsunami did arise, Not just build a nuke power station and expect it to repel off earthquakes and tsunami's.
What next major disaster on a world wide scale, are they going to create?
Japan is rushing into more dried out doom if you ask me.

In my own opinion Japan only needs a glass dome.

something that annoys me, nothing personal to the person that posted this.

Japan is clear down at the bottom. Only one nation in the world has more more debt than Japan. That would be us.

You do realize that this is the Internet and there is no us. There are a few people from different countries that join in on this site. Not just the U.S so in other words there is no us.

Just wanting to let you know that, so next time you don't look so naive and I'm sorry that I had to resort to this.
But yeah people might become confused and think India, Australia, New Zealand or Denmark is debt.

reply to post by amraks

You do realize that this is the Internet and there is no us. There are a few people from different countries that join in on this site. Not just the U.S so in other words there is no us.

Just wanting to let you know that, so next time you don't look so naive and I'm sorry that I had to resort to this.
But yeah people might become confused and think India, Australia, New Zealand or Denmark is debt.

I'm sorry I have to resort to explaining what people on the internet often mean when using the term "US". Specifically, and here on ATS, when someone says 'us' 'we' and recently 'them', I don't think they are naive. I look at their mini-profile and see if they are clearly identifying themselves as a group to explain the term. Thats even a general observation because I've seen the language used in more than just national reference when a Mini- is real clear on something else. Freemason membership, as one example that comes to mind.

Thanks for your opinion on the fact I do identify as an American first and do not see myself as some 'international citizen of the internet', though. That comes second....but my nation will ALWAYS come first in this equation.

So, I hope that at least clears up future confusion on why I and many others I see from other nations as well, use the term us or we outside of a clear context in the post itself.

(and if you're educated, intelligent and frequenting sites with Americans for more than a few months...and want to say my Mini isn't clear to being an American...I give up. Totally. )

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
I'm sorry I have to resort to explaining what people on the internet often mean when using the term "US". Specifically, and here on ATS, when someone says 'us' 'we' and recently 'them', I don't think they are naive.

I look at their mini-profile and see if they are clearly identifying themselves as a group to explain the term. Thats even a general observation because I've seen the language used in more than just national reference when a Mini- is real clear on something else. Freemason membership, as one example that comes to mind.

Thanks for your opinion on the fact I do identify as an American first and do not see myself as some 'international citizen of the internet', though. That comes second....but my nation will ALWAYS come first in this equation.

So, I hope that at least clears up future confusion on why I and many others I see from other nations as well, use the term us or we outside of a clear context in the post itself.

(and if you're educated, intelligent and frequenting sites with Americans for more than a few months...and want to say my Mini isn't clear to being an American...I give up. Totally.

)

Ok so if I watch the world news on tv and they are saying WE, US who is we, us?
It just wouldn't be the world news would it, it would be confusing. So here basically the same thing WWW(world wide web), meaning its world wide, the whole worlds reading and your not just reporting to your own nation but several.

Could you define your word choice of Mini, as I have not heard it used in that context before.

My personal opinion on this, is that they should be allowed to get on with it. While it is very true that the Japanese government has other things it ought to be getting on with just now, it will likely take some years to come to any fruit. In the mean time, I am sure that they will be making every possible effort to deal with the fallout (groan) from the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility.

However, realistically, there is only so much that one can do when dealing with such a large area of effect, and such a deeply troubling level of radiological penetration.

However, knowing (as they surely do) how badly the human race as a whole, has treated this planet, the Japanese may be ever more intent on propelling themselves into space with the intention of making reality out of our wildest fantasies in terms of colonisation of space.

Personally speaking, I think that Japan would be the very best possible addition to the roster of space faring nations. The reason being that of all nations, the Japanese have the greatest natural affinity for the machine, the most singular connection with thier technology, of ANY nation on this whole damned planet. If any nation could come up with, and bring to logical conclusion, a plan for out of system travel, and eventual visits to other planets and solar systems in our galaxy.

I would like to see Japan become big contributors to the space industry globally.