Japan to launch military space force: report

So how are they going to clear the debris? Launch missiles at them? Lasers maybe?

The Dearth Star!

Launch a Gundam to blat the debris away with his beam sword.

Are you serious? This must be the biggest waste of money I've heard of... how did the US trick Japan into doing this for them?

...so why Military? I read the headline thinking it was intelligence countermeasures (anti hacking/etc). Wouldn't this be best suited for scientists? Or engineers? Or "Space" professionals (Nasa, Jaxa, etc)?

It's a nice idea and I can see the good intentions here, but small or stupid mistakes in space can add much more deadly debris floating around, not to mention potential international incidents.

Moreover, in the scheme of things, how much of current debris is from Japanese satellites/rockets/etc? Shouldn't this be a joint effort by those responsible for the trash and not one single country?

The picture associated with the headline is rediculous, ..................The Japanese are not putting F15s in space!

This is nothing less than a bid to help the US militarize space, which, interesting, many countries signed on the dotted line not to do a few years back.

The country that first militarizes space - ie: that achieves the ability to zap any Earth-based targets using satellite-mounted lasers, will achieve global domination. 

'Clearing space debris' is laughable rationale for this move, and is clearly being presented in the hope of distracting the masses from the real objective. 

The picture associated with the headline is rediculous,

agreed, it is taken 3 year and 3 months ago, usually for all essential applications they require latest photograph taken within last 3 months (!)

Japan can pay for this space farce- I mean force, by... selling space bonds?

I'd be more concerned about protecting Japan itself, rather than its satellites (which can be rebuilt, and redeployed). If there's going to be more military (i.e., deficit spending) than work on defenses on the ground, and the air.

Japan has three rather unfriendly neighbours: China, Russia, and North Korea. Communist aggression is once again a real threat.

This space force strikes me more as a PR stunt, and a costly one at that.

How will this be paid for? Will we see another increase in consumption tax, maybe to 20%, which would, of course, be accompanied by another reduction in corporate tax?

I don't suppose this idea could possible have been devised to funnel funds into loss-making electronics companies and other businesses, and I wouldn't dream of supposing such companies came up with these ideas or made generous donations to certain politicians and political parties recently.

I don't think Japan can afford to pay for this either, given that it already spends about twice annual tax revenues each year.

But then our accounting friends will assure us that the government can just issue more bonds and have the central bank buy them, right?

Matthew SimonAug. 04, 2014 - 03:47PM JST So how are they going to clear the debris? Launch missiles at them? Lasers maybe?

My guess is solar-powered lasers to break up the debris on trajectories that cause it to re-enter the atmosphere.

gogogoAug. 04, 2014 - 04:10PM JST Are you serious? This must be the biggest waste of money I've heard of... how did the US trick Japan into doing this for them?

Again just a guess, but I'm thinking that this meshes nicely with Abe's visions of the second Japanese Empire.

You have to admit that lasers used for clearing space garbage could probably be retasked for hitting incoming missiles, and heating cities in unfriendly nations, etc.

Launch a Gundam to blat the debris away with his beam sword.

Serious speculation is leaning towards Gundam's funnels

It's actually not very glamorous. It was reported in the past where people at JAXA had devised a method in which they throw a fishing net made out of metal onto a debris and the debris drops into the atmosphere eventually due to drag.

@SamuraiBlue: Drag? In space? Maybe if the net was going slower than the junk when the junk hit it , it might slow the junk down enough to cause the orbit to decay, but there isn't much drag in space. In order for the net to be going slower than the junk, it would have to be decelerated somehow after attaining the orbit of the junk.

Well, it is important to clear up space debris before it causes damage to satellites. That's very expensive damage. Depending on the type of satellite, you're looking at $400 million - $2.2 billion (USD, estimated figures) just for construction of the satellite, and for launching it; well that depends whether you use a private space firm or a government funded one (ie NASA), but still, that's a price tag somewhere between $600 million - $1.4 billion USD to get the satellite into space. Somehow I don't think it would cost quite so much to train JASDF personnel in the use of space cleaning tech. That said, it shouldn't just be Japan. As has been stated, this debris should be cleaned by the countries who make it. There should be dozens of countries shouldering the responsibilities and costs of cleaning up space, not just Japan and the US (if the US even does anything to help out. There's no guarantee of that). Whatever happens, the citizens are going to feel the pinch, but since it's cheaper to clean up space that to constantly rebuild satellites that will inevitably end up polluting it further, this seems like the lesser of two evils.

B.B.Q.Demon

Most of the debris are in an orbit below 250Km space unlike people think there is still a thin atmosphere.

In recent years, we have seen the U.S., China, and Russia all resort to using military force unilaterally against those less powerful than themselves. While it is not likely that Japan will ever again be in a position to expect to successfully use force against other nations, it might be in Japan's self-interest to be able to make any attacking nation think twice before attacking.

@gogogo

Are you serious? This must be the biggest waste of money I've heard of... how did the US trick Japan into doing this for them?

What makes you think the US tricked JP into this. Why couldn't it be that the JP sold the US on this idea or is it that you don't give JP any credit for thinking? Total non sense! backwards logic

I think this makes perfect sense. Space is the next frontier, and the country with the ability to assert itself in space if going to have an edge.

Also, considering Japan is planning to use solar satellites in orbit to supply itself with clean energy (testing to be done in the next year or so) its a prudent move.

"space, the so-called “fourth battlefield”

It's not the final frontier? It's just the fourth battlefield? Sheesh...

Being a space and military nut, I love the efforts of any nation trying to do good on space debris. Its a huge problem. Just not long ago Russian debris killed off a satellite. So it has major impact on all fronts.

Now, if you guys were to post and try to inform people, you need to be correct and not just to wing it.

First of all, there are more than 500,000 debris of all sizes traveling in space. And they travel 7-8 times of the speed of a bullet being fired on ground. That's more than 17,000 mph.

The electromagnetic tether and aluminum "net" are unproven. Its more like a fantasy at this point since it cannot be proven. The theory was proposed way back in 1996 by NRL and NASA but the primary concern is once the debris impact the metal or net, it will shatter and create more debris, which was exactly what happened.

JAXA test launched this socalled "net" in Feb, 2014, and still no news about it. Meaning it failed. There is nothing that JAXA hasn't thought of that's being theorized or tested by NASA or ESA. This so called space trawling net was already being theorized and tested by NRL or NASA way back in the 90s. The idea is the same except the tether back then was 6km long. Unless you can disintegrate the debris that's travelling at 5 times the speed of sound at the point of impact, you cannot just "throw a net" and "drag it". You have to match the speed of the debris, many smaller than the size of a marble ball in order to "catch" it. If one is travelling at a different distance then others, you are screwed and the net is done. Which will create even more debris.

Before you guys post something, really, take a few minutes to search for this info.

(space.com/topics/space-junk-orbital-debris-news/) (orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/) (nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/what-is-orbital-debris-58.html#.U997VPldVVY)

I'm surprised that this task didn't fall to JAXA. It's not a military mission, they're just tracking orbital debris.

I would be more concerned about the Chinese taking out a military satellite. They have been working on that capability for a long time as part of their plans to take back Taiwain.

This is a 2 sided plan. Maybe they want to develop space technologies.

FrungyAug. 04, 2014 - 07:42PM JST Again just a guess, but I'm thinking that this meshes nicely with Abe's visions of the second Japanese Empire.

Guess that must e why the U.S., UK, EU, Australia are all supporting him. What a stupid comment,

TEPCO should be a major player, it has the experience of ideals that are out of this world and the benefit of an unlimited budget, plus it makes a profit. Can't see what could possibly go wrong.

Gee mankind has & continues to mess up the planet big time, space is getting its share of gomi too!

At some point we ALL are going to pay some pretty huge prices for trashing our planet!

Now lift Yamato from the sea and built Space ship Yamato!

soon they will be in a spat with the neighbours about who owns one or other particular piece of space junk.

@SamuraiBlue: I didn't know that those lower flying satellites were in an orbit with some atmosphere. Thanks for the information. Is that thin atmosphere enough to cause the needed drag after the junk is caught in the net?