The government plans to establish a new ?1 trillion ($6.6 billion) fund in a bid to develop the country¡¯s outer space industry, as starry-eyed officials push to enhance Japan¡¯s capabilities.
The ?1 trillion fund will be allocated over a 10-year period for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), an Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry spokesperson said. Some ?300 billion has been set aside for the fund in the latest supplementary budget approved by the Cabinet on Friday.
¡°We believe it is a necessary fund to speed up our country¡¯s space development so we don¡¯t lag behind the increasingly intensifying international competition,¡± Sanae Takaichi, minister in charge of space development, said in a news conference last week.
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