Message from the President August.2024

Countries around the world are expanding their horizons beyond Earth into space, as part of their efforts to create a sustainable society. They are now working to tackle a range of issues by treating space and Earth as one, with a view to realizing rich economic and social activities Consequently, a movement to explore the possibility of utilizing or expanding into space is spreading among many industries, including the manufacturing and service sectors.

Space development refers generally to activities that make outer space useful for human social activities. The activities themselves are wide-ranging. For example, communication services, positioning services and earth observation services, all of which use artificial satellites, have already become an indispensable part of infrastructure in our daily lives. In addition, it is fair to say that space exploration, which explores the origin of the universe and the solar system and looks for traces of life, are activities that lead to the clarification and development of humanity and civilization. Over the medium to long terms, space development aims to make a significant contribution to improving Earth's environment and bettering human lives, for instance with the development of scarce resources and energy in space, the concept of creating a living space on the moon, and space tourism.

The engineers, technologies and skills that support this space development are not unique to the space industry. It is increasingly expected that they will be sourced from a range of businesses across industries. In the development of aerospace rockets and artificial satellites, agile development is attracting attention because it can respond flexibly to changes in specifications during development. In addition, efforts are being made to improve development efficiency by Model-Based System Engineering (MBSE), which is a process that facilitates total optimization, from requirement definitions to materialization. Consequently, the development experience gained in the IT and automotive industries can be fully demonstrated.

You may be thinking that the space industry is still remote. However, the space industry is now in the process of transforming from a government-led undertaking into a private sector-led business through phased privatization. We should accept that the space industry is becoming as familiar as the automotive and consumer electronics industries. With the market expected to grow to approximately 150 trillion yen by 2030 (McKinsey & Company’s forecast), space is a growth industry and a huge market. I ask that you consider what techniques and skills you are lacking and work on how to acquire them, with a view to taking on the challenge of a frontier with infinite possibilities. I expect you to contribute to a prosperous future for the planet as an engineer who takes on the challenge of addressing the issues that Earth is facing from a cosmic perspective.