Civil Military Integration in Space: Maneki Neko

Undoubtedly, the ongoing missions to the Moon are coming up through civil-military integration. Science is a distant third on priority after military and economic goals. India's space planners have lessons to learn, especially from the beckoning by Japan.

The world is gearing to send humans to the Moon once again. The last humans, primarily Americans who were more techno-economically capable then, to go to the Moon went on singular lunar landers with not much paraphernalia to help. However, our current attempts are focusing to create a cislunar (between Earth and Moon) connectivity infrastructure that includes communication systems, logistics systems, two separate system to carry astronauts and their logistics, and additional systems to build out critical infrastructure on the Moon to sustain long-term human presence. In the attempt to build out critical infrastructure systems on the Moon, numerous nations have begun to nurture private and public entities that would eventually garner stakes in what could turn out to be ‘Cis-Lunar Economy.’ In December 2022, Japan got its first-of-their-kind commercial lunar spacecraft launched piggy-backing on US’ SpaceX commercial launch vehicle.

iSpace, a Japanese private company, got its lunar lander designated as ‘Hakuto-M1’ launched. The lander aiming to reach the Moon by mid-April 2023, is carrying with itthe transformable lunar rover. Both M1 and Hakuto-R have support from widerJapanese industry who are supporting iSpace in managing the construction and operations of this mission. For instance, Japan Airlines, a partner to this mission, wants to contribute to expansion of human activities in space. Another sponsor, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, is offering new insurance products offering protection against risks to the mission. Another sponsors, NGK-NTK, has developed an all-solid-state battery which will be the first battery of its type tested on the Moon. Suzuki, the famous automobile company, is anticipating certain technologies from Hakuto’s operations that it may want to use for its future cars. Slightly deviating from the topic, the same Maruti Suzuki in India is collaborating with Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad to develop autonomous cars for Indian conditions. The ultralight and compact transformable rover, this mission is carrying is built jointly by Japanese space agency, JAXA, the electronic giant Sony Corporation, the renowned toy company, Tomy Company, and Doshisha University.

This project aside, since 2018, another Japanese airline company, All Nippon Airlines (ANA) in collaboration with JAXA is working towards a cutting-edge Avatar robotics technology that could employ pilots operating out of Earth-based control stations to operate robots, which would mimic their actions, in low-Earth orbit and on Moon.

Now, coming to the Artemis Exploration Mission-1, a US-led international project that accompanies signatory partner countries, which was launched in November 2022. This EM-1 too carried two Japanese payloads, the impact probe OMOTENASHI, which failed to communicate within a day of its launch, and a cubesat EQUULEUS, which aims to measure the plasma environments, detect flashes created due to meteoritic impact on the moon’s surface, and detect dust released from the surface due to the same impacts. EQUULEUS is on its way with other 8 low-cost cubesats. Apart from these missions, JAXA is working with ISRO in designing the Lunar Polar Exploration (LUPEX) mission to be launched sometime around 2025.

Japan is ramping up its space program, especially its stakes in the cis-lunar economy at a time when some sweeping reforms in its constitution are expected. Japan, which after the Second World War was made to be pacifist state devoid of its own military, but a self-defense force, has now decided to ramp up its defense spending to 2% of its GDP by 2027. In December 2022, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a USD 320 billion military spending.

While these spending were announced, the Japanese government came up with two new important documents – the National Security Strategy and the National Defense Strategy. Through these two documents, Tokyo is emphasizing to “reinforce cooperation and collaboration” between the Ministry of Defense, JAXA and Japan’s private sector. Doing so, Tokyo aims to use civilian technologies for defence purposes, facilitate technology development in its private sector, and comprehensive augment the country’s overall space capabilities. The National Defense Strategy further explicates Japan’s intent to ‘organically fuse’ capabilities across sea, land, air, cyber and space domains and ensure national defense. In these schemes of things, in early 2023, Japan Air Self-Defense Force will be renamed as Japan Air and Space Self-Defense Force.

The uninitiated here might hunt for reasons that are causing Japan to shed its imposed pacifism, imposed by the US-led order. But the informed know that the only reason is China’s effective Jinhai Fangyu (offshore defense) strategy that was laid in 1986. With Beijing’s annexation of islands in the South China Sea (the first-island chain), Beijing on its pre-determined path to reach the third-island chain (Guam and Hawaii – both of the US) is preparing to combat the second-island chain which constitutes of Taiwan and Japan. This is the major cause of Japan’s shunning its post-World War imposed pacifism, and Washington is agreeable to release the chains it had curtailed Tokyo. These developments have massive ramifications internationally.

Science, across the world, fluctuatingly operates on two fronts – development and security. Both the fronts co-exist but security front dominates both during peace- and war-time. During peace-time, the security front works to avert conflicts. But when conflict becomes unavoidable, security front works to quickly end the conflict. The geopolitical developments, regardless of untiring diplomatic efforts, are indicating higher chances of conflict in East Asia – the same East Asia that is now the epicenter of technology innovation, the same East Asia that has been manufacturing for the entire world for the past four decades, and the same Asia which is an epicenter of global economy.

To put it realistically, the security-front of science will be more important than the development-front at least for the next 10-15 years. The year of 2022 ended without any substantial resolution on the Ukraine-Russia war and any other conflict hotspot that emerges hereafter may or may not see quick resolution of conflict and warring countries will prepare for enduring protracted periods of war or localized battles. This preparation is forcing countries to fuse civil and military capabilities in science and technology. China already has a Civil Military Integration office placed both in the State Council and the Central Military Commission, and many countries are following suit.

The Chinese are not the first to begin with, they had lessons to learn from the nearly century-old American military industrial complex. The same American military industrial complex, now joined by new and nimbly-operating space companies, is leading a consortium of entities from partner countries, under the Artemis Accords, to the Moon. The growing participation of private players in outer space activities is only a testimony to the increasing civil military integration happening globally. Japan’s case implies that the international order that was set up after the Second World War is fast withering in the autumn of multiple potential conflicts simmering. Military and security concerns will shape science of the foreseeable future. Indian institutions, companies, and scientists and technocrats must absorb this inevitability.

This blog was published in the December 2022 edition of Science India magazine published by Vijnana Bharati.