Panel drafts space development plan including study on missile sensor

TOKYO, April 27 Kyodo -
(EDS: ADDING MORE INFO)
A group of private-sector experts advising the government on space development
proposed Monday that Japan conduct research on a sensor for a satellite that
can detect the launch of a ballistic missile as part of the country's first
national strategy for space development.
After accepting comments from the public on the proposal, the government's
space development strategy headquarters will formally decide on the basic space
plan at the end of May, according to the group which consists of 16 experts
including astronaut Mamoru Mohri and cartoonist Reiji Matsumoto.
The headquarters, set up based on the 2008 basic space law, is working on the
country's first space development strategy for the period up until the end of
fiscal 2013. The law departed from Japan's decades-long space policy of
avoiding the military use of space and paved way for the development of space
for national security purposes.
Noting as a basic policy that Japan should shift its priority from research
development to space utilization, the proposal cited nine development and
utilization plans Japan should work for by fiscal 2013, including areas of
global environment observation and space science, casting an eye 10 years
ahead.
If realized, a total of 34 satellites are expected to be launched in five years.
The proposal also said that ''the role of space in the security area is
becoming larger than what it has been until now'' and called for expanding the
number of information-gathering satellites to four from the current three
within five years.
It also called for the promotion of research on a sensor for an early warning
satellite that can detect the launch of a ballistic missile, but stopped short
of concluding whether Japan should possess such satellites.
The space development strategy headquarters consist of all Cabinet ministers
and is headed by Prime Minister Taro Aso.
The initial version of the proposal made by the secretariat had referred to
North Korea's April 5 rocket launch as a move conducted despite ''calls from
international society to exercise restraint,'' but the phrase is expected to be
revised as some members were reluctant to use it.
==Kyodo