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Julian Ryall

A partnership between Japan Airlines and a space start-up marks the first step for the carrier to explore diversification beyond Earth-bound aviation, potentially boosting Japan’s ambition to expand its footprint on the moon.
The airline is teaming up with ispace to transport items of “precious cultural heritage and human activities” via a lander craft to the moon and protect them from the effects of climate change, natural disasters and conflict on Earth.
“In the rapidly changing world, there is a constant risk that precious cultural artefacts and ways of life could be suddenly lost. The lunar environment offers a location to protect and preserve these valuable cultural assets until the day they are opened by future generations,” Japan Airlines said in a statement.
Industry analysts see the ARGO Trans-Lunar Heritage Project as the airline’s first small step towards making its presence felt in the space sector.
“I see this as a diversification away from the purely commercial aviation space for the airline. We have seen other companies pursue similar strategies with advanced mobility and other projects,” said Toshimitsu Sogabe, an aviation industry analyst in Tokyo-based Cirium Ascend Consultancy.
“The commercial aviation industry is going through a bit of a tough time at the moment and there’s a lot of uncertainty around, so it makes sense for airlines to be diversifying.”

Sogabe said he did not foresee space as a major sector for the airline.
“But it could be seen as a step in that direction as there are plans for an IPO for SpaceX and money is becoming available for new operations in space, so something like this does give JAL some more exposure,” he added, referring to an initial public offering and the abbreviated form of the carrier’s name.
Under a memorandum of understanding signed between ispace and Japan Airlines, both companies’ subsidiaries began collaborating in November last year to build “transportation systems and infrastructure to support sustainable future activities on the moon”.
The intention was to “build the cislunar economy to connect the Earth and the moon”, with a key element of that being regular transport of cargo and humans into space.
The project is the first concrete development under the plan, with the companies signing a payload service agreement on Tuesday for ispace’s next lunar landing mission, which is currently scheduled for 2028.
Japan began selling payload transport capacity to private companies and local governments on Wednesday for delivery to the moon.
The transportation canister that the airline is using has internal compartments made of materials that can withstand the lunar environment and protect the contents. It is soliciting items to be placed in the canister, including regional Japanese specialities and products “representative of local businesses”.

A spokeswoman said the airline had only just unveiled the project plan as many issues had to be resolved, including items to be placed inside the canister, costs, the targeted area on the moon and storage units to be deposited by the lunar lander.
Japan Airlines aims to make such deliveries to the moon more regular, according to the spokeswoman.
The project is reminiscent of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a US$8.8 million secure backup facility storing duplicate seeds of some of the world’s crops on the remote Norwegian island of Spitsbergen for use during potential global emergencies. There are currently more than 1.35 million seeds held in the vault.
Several other Japanese companies have also announced plans to diversify into the space sector.
Toyota Motor is working with Nasa and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to develop a manned lunar vehicle to support a planned inhabited base on the moon.
Nippon Travel Agency has partnered with rocket start-up Innovative Space Carrier to offer rocket transport between Tokyo and the US in under an hour by the 2030s. The companies also plan to operate an orbiting space hotel by the following decade.
Architectural, civil engineering and general contracting firm Shimizu was one of the earliest entrants in the fledgling sector, with plans for an orbiting space hotel and static accommodation on the moon.


Some analysts are sceptical about the new project involving Japan Airlines, however.
“This is a totally different business with no synergies with an airline’s operations, so this strikes me as more of a public relations stunt,” said Robert Dujarric, co-director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at Temple University’s Tokyo campus.
While Dujarric agreed that it was important for Japan to expand into space for security and economic reasons, he said the airline’s plan would not contribute to the national goal.
He also said that the world was a long way from mass space tourism. “Yes, SpaceX is developing reusable rockets that will lower costs, but putting life forms into space is very costly and very dangerous.”
Dujarric also questioned the idea of Japan preserving its cultural heritage by transporting the relevant artefacts to the moon.
“They do not do a very good job of protecting their architecturally unique buildings and heritage here, so taking things to the moon is more of a PR stunt,” he said.


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Japan Airlines wants to blast human culture into space and land it on the moon

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The carrier is selling payload space to preserve Earth’s heritage from climate change and war, but sceptics dismiss it as a PR stunt


The carrier is selling payload space to preserve Earth’s heritage from climate change and war, but sceptics dismiss it as a PR stunt.


Japan Airlines wants to blast human culture into space and land it on the moon

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The carrier is selling payload space to preserve Earth’s heritage from climate change and war, but sceptics dismiss it as a PR stunt

The carrier is selling payload space to preserve Earth’s heritage from climate change and war, but sceptics dismiss it as a PR stunt