The world is still marveling at the stunning photos taken by America¡¯s Artemis II astronauts during their 10-day mission around the moon. But the space race is not about who takes photos from the far side of the moon or plants a flag on what planet first. It¡¯s actually about the future of life on Earth. And when measured in that way, one could argue that Japan is in the lead.
The safe splashdown in April of the Artemis II crew after its successful NASA moon mission validated that life-support, communication and navigation systems with astronauts on board can pave the way for sustainable lunar exploration. Elon Musk¡¯s SpaceX hopes to build orbital data centers for AI computing by 2028, to power AI processing/computing capacity for use on Earth.
However, Japan¡¯s OHISAMA Project, named after the Japanese word for sun, is actually ahead of the U.S. when it comes to space-based solar power. Later this year, OHISAMA plans to launch the first solar power station satellite into orbit that will capture and transmit solar power to a receiving site on Earth for conversion into usable electricity. If scaled, by also building gigantic solar farms on the moon, space-based solar power could replace fossil fuels, dams and massive nuclear plants, drastically cutting greenhouse gas emissions while providing clean, global energy distribution.
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