“I understand that as part of the Artemis program, Japan and US are planning the development of lunar exploration,” Hayashi said on Friday.
Earlier in the day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Hayashi signed the framework agreement between the government of Japan and the government of the United States for cooperation and space exploration, and use of outer space, including the moon, and other celestial bodies for peaceful purposes.
During the ceremony, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson also announced his plans to visit Japan next month along with Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy to strengthen the cooperation between his agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
The Artemis program is a moon exploration program of the United States and three partnering agencies: Canadian Space Agency (CSA), European Space Agency (ESA), and JAXA.
On November 16, NASA launched Artemis 1, the first in its new series of unmanned lunar missions, with JAXA Omotenashi and Equuleus CubeSats satellites on board. Equuleus separated on the same day and was confirmed to be operating normally.
The Omotenashi satellite, weighing about 12 kilograms (26.4 pounds), should have landed the smallest lunar semi-rigid lander to observe the radiation situation on the Moon's surface.
However, on November 21, JAXA said in a tweet that communication with the satellite could not be established, and it was determined that the lunar landing maneuver operation could not be performed.