科学技術政策研究：政治学系（Space Development and Public Policy）

Space related treaties which are legal basis of the global space activities are subject to the nations and presume that the nations are the main player of space activities and they should supervise non-governmental entities. Under such structure, conventional space companies have mainly supported governmental space activities which contribute to the national interests. However, New Space companies that emerged in 2000s are conducting space activities with their own visions and business models although they are also under the governmental supervision. In addition, new space faring nations like UAE which is engaged in Mars mission are emerging. These new players are activating global space activities. At the same time, according to the increase of space debris, there are concerns about sustainability of space activities, and the nations and national space agencies are still main players in terms of sustainable space program, development of infrastructures, and maintenance of industrial bases.
In Japan, 2008 Space Basic Law enabled space activities for national security, renewed its governance structure by establishing Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy headed by Prime Minister, and shifted its weight to utilization from research and development. 2016 Space Activity Act set out legal basis for space activities including those by private companies. However, there are still various legal and policy challenges including industrial promotion and space debris issue from the viewpoint of sustainable space activities.
This course will offer practical lectures by various practitioners and specialists to understand current situation of global space activities. Afterwards, students will develop and discuss policy proposals for specific themes as practices. FY 2021, we will deal with the latest topics including space traffic management , space resources exploration, and roles of national space agency as the issues related to norm building and rule-making for sustainable space activities on the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and the Beyond Low Earth Orbit (BLEO) under the theme of “Governance of Space Activities”.