[Title] Joint Statement, The Ninth Meeting of the Japan-U.S. Comprehensive Dialogue on Space

Pursuant to the shared goal of continuing to advance bilateral space cooperation and to further strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance as declared by the leaders of both nations, the Government of Japan and the Government of the United States of America held the Ninth Meeting of the Japan-U.S. Comprehensive Dialogue on Space in Washington, DC on August 26 and 27, 2024.

The Japan-U.S. global partnership extends to space, where our nations will continue to work to reach new frontiers. This Dialogue represents the strong and shared commitment of two of the world's most advanced spacefaring nations to enhance bilateral space cooperation and to cooperate closely with the international community toward ensuring the continuous, safe, stable, secure, and sustainable use of outer space for current and future generations.

This meeting was co-chaired by representatives of the National Space Policy Secretariat of the Cabinet Office and Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Japan, and representatives from the Executive Office of the President's National Space Council and National Security Council for the United States.

Principal participants included the National Space Policy Secretariat; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; National Security Secretariat; Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC); Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT); Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI); Ministry of the Environment; Ministry of Defense, the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT); the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA); and the Embassy of Japan in the United States of America from the Japanese side, and the Departments of State, Defense, Commerce, Transportation, and Interior; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; the Office of the National Cyber Director and the Office of Science and Technology Policy from the U.S. side.

At this meeting, as in the previous dialogues, both sides exchanged views on a wide range of areas pertaining to outer space.

Both sides gave updates on their respective space policies and strategies, including the U.S. Novel Space Activities Authorization and Supervision Framework, NASA's Space Sustainability Strategy, and Japan's Basic Plan on Space Policy, Space Security Initiative, Space Technology Strategy, and Space Strategy Fund.

Japan and the United States shared views on threats to space and the use of space by strategic competitors. In this regard, both sides reaffirmed the obligation of all States Parties to fully comply with the Outer Space Treaty, including not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction, install such weapons on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space in any other manner. Both sides affirmed that placement of nuclear weapons in outer space in violation of the Outer Space Treaty would gravely threaten global security.

Both sides also recalled the recognition that attacks to, from, or within space, in certain circumstances, could lead to the invocation of Article V of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.

In light of the pivotal role of space systems to global critical infrastructure and resilience, both sides affirmed the fundamental importance of cybersecurity to ensuring a more resilient ecosystem and enabling future bilateral space cooperation. Both sides emphasized the criticality of robust public-private collaboration to tackle collective cyber risks and affirmed the need to seek alignment on cybersecurity standards and requirements for space systems.

In civil space, the U.S. side emphasized the necessity of embracing open-data science to advance mutual science and innovation goals; to meet economic, industrial, and foreign policy objectives; and to advance solutions that meet science objectives and improve life on Earth for citizens of Japan, the United States, and nations around the world.

On national security, both sides noted the strong alignment between Japanese and U.S. strategic interests and values, and between both sides' respective national security strategies. Both sides committed to leveraging bilateral space cooperation to support those strategies' implementation. Both sides discussed further enhancing their space security cooperation, including strengthening their cooperation on the use of space for Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), and fulfilling the direction from the April 2024 Japan-U.S. Joint Leaders' Statement to advance cooperation on a future low-earth orbit missile detection and tracking constellation. Both sides also discussed ongoing efforts to identify and promote responsible behaviors to enhance security, stability, and sustainability in outer space, including both sides' commitments not to conduct destructive, direct-ascent anti-satellite missile tests. The two sides also reconfirmed their intent to enhance threat information sharing and welcomed Japan's participation in the Combined Space Operations (CSpO) Initiative.

On commercial space, both sides discussed regulatory frameworks and opportunities for increased collaboration between our space industries and welcomed the participation of 39 Japanese and U.S. companies in a government-industry discussion on these issues. Given the increasing importance and expanding role of the private sector in exploring outer space, including to both countries' national security, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to deepening linkages between their respective space industries, and expressed their intention to pursue a space industry network composed of Japanese and U.S. space companies interested in deepening cooperation in order to support the goals of the Japan-U.S. alliance in space.

Both sides noted continued progress of negotiations on a space technology safeguards agreement which is designed to provide the legal and technical framework for U.S. commercial space launch from Japan. The space technology safeguards agreement has the potential to open new commercial opportunities in a range of advanced technologies related to space.

Both sides noted strong, successful Japan-U.S. cooperation in civil space activities, which continues to grow. The discussion included the Artemis program, including the historic implementing arrangement for human spaceflight cooperation on the Moon, cooperation on the Gateway lunar orbit platform, and low Earth orbit (LEO) human activities, including continuing cooperation on the International Space Station (ISS). The two sides reaffirmed their desire to maintain robust dialogue with both government and industry regarding future cooperation on Commercial LEO Destinations (CLDs). Regarding human spaceflight cooperation on the Moon, Japan will provide and maintain a pressurized rover while the United States will allocate two astronaut flight opportunities to the lunar surface for Japan on future Artemis missions. Prime Minister Kishida and President Biden announced a shared goal for a Japanese national to be the first non-American astronaut to land on the Moon on a future Artemis mission, assuming important benchmarks are achieved.

Both sides acknowledged the 10th anniversary of their joint Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission and the importance of their continued Earth observation and research cooperation. They recognized that their shared work to monitor the climate and study precipitation, the water cycle, forests, greenhouse gases and more is essential for understanding our changing planet and enabling the global community to plan for the future. They affirmed their shared goal, as strategic partners, to design effective Earth observation programs in coordination, as appropriate, leveraging each other's expertise and capabilities.

In space science, both sides discussed ongoing and upcoming cooperation, including on NASA's Dragonfly and Roman Space Telescope missions, JAXA's Next-generation Solar- observing Satellite (SOLAR-C), Martian Moons eXploration (MMX), and X-ray observatory satellite (XRISM), while noting interest in exploring opportunities for potential cooperation on the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). In addition, both sides expressed excitement regarding the achievement of JAXA's SLIM mission in 2024, the successful transfer of OSIRIS- REx samples to Japan, and the upcoming launch of MMX, which is JAXA's Martian moon sample return mission in 2026.

Both sides discussed multilateral cooperation for space sustainability, including the G7 and its joint support in remediating debris, cooperation at the UN, and implementation of the Artemis Accords, including within the signatory group. Both sides also discussed enhancing space cooperation with regional allies and partners, such as trilateral cooperation with the Republic of Korea, cooperation through the Quad, and cooperation in regional fora, such as the Asia- Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF).

Both sides discussed capacity-building efforts to help emerging space-faring and other partner nations better leverage satellite data for weather forecasting, disaster preparedness and response, and socio-economic benefits.

Both sides welcomed the strong cross-government cooperation on Japan's QZSS program, including hosting U.S. payloads on QZSS satellites, as well as the United States hosting QZSS ground stations.

Both sides also reconfirmed the strategic value of the Japan-U.S. Comprehensive Dialogue on Space as a mechanism to guide overall bilateral space cooperation policies and reaffirmed that this Dialogue would continue to strengthen cooperative relations between the two countries across ministries, departments, and agencies.

Both sides concurred on holding the Tenth meeting of the Dialogue in Japan in 2025.