This is how it was decided at an international conference in Japan * The cooperation between the Israeli and Japanese space agencies was strengthened
At the Ministerial Summit for Earth Observations held earlier this week in Tokyo, Japan, representatives from European countries offered Israel a new channel for international cooperation in the field of space. The head of the Italian delegation, Enzo Buzzolti, and Jacques Matti from France, who serves as senior director at the European Commission's Research Authority and is responsible for the European Union's Earth Observation Project (GMES), even pledged to support Israel's request to join the project.
The European Union's Earth Observation Project (GMES), received the approval of the Union Commission in November 2003, the program aims to establish a European system for Earth observations including satellites, communication networks, centers of scientific excellence and the development of methods for decision-making processes based on the information received.
Minister of Science and Technology Eliezer (Modi) Zandberg, who participated in the summit, said that immediately upon his return to Israel, he would instruct the director of the Israel Space Agency, Avi Har Even, to examine the possibility of submitting an official application for accession to the European Union Commission.
In addition, at the meeting that took place on Monday in Tokyo, Japan between the Minister of Science and Technology Eliezer (Mudi) Zandberg and the Japanese Minister of Science and Education Takeo Kawamura, a willingness was expressed, on both sides, to examine cooperation between the two countries in the field of space. Ministers Zandberg and Kawamura agreed that the continuation of the discussions on this issue will be done between the space agencies of Israel (ISA) and Japan (JAXA).
Japan and Israel are two of eight countries in the world that have the knowledge and ability to build and launch satellites into space.
Japanese Minister Kawamura expressed great appreciation for Israel's position in the field of space and said that he believes that cooperation in this field will contribute to improving the level of accuracy of Japanese projects. It should be noted that the previous year the Japanese Space Agency had a failure in launching a satellite into space and since then further launch plans have been frozen until the cause of the malfunction, which caused an explosion during launch, is clarified. The launches are scheduled to resume in 2005.
By 2006, Japan intends to reach a launch capacity of 6 tons of cargo, today it is able to launch between 3 and 4 tons of cargo. Success in increasing the payload will provide Japan with launch capabilities that are currently reserved for the United States and Europe.
