Joint Statement by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on Space Exploration January 24, 2018

Consistent with the Japan-U.S. Summit Meeting of November 2017, whereby
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and President Donald J. Trump of the
United States of America noted the long history of bilateral space
cooperation between Japan and the United States and affirmed their
commitment to continuing cooperation in space exploration between their
two nations;

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (hereinafter referred
to as NASA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (hereinafter
referred to as JAXA),

Recognizing their strong and committed partnership in all mission areas,
including human and robotic exploration, Earth and space science, and
fundamental aeronautics research, and in particular their many years of
experience in the International Space Station (ISS) Program;

Recognizing their shared objective to leverage the strong foundation of
the ISS to advance cooperative, innovative and sustainable space
exploration beyond low-Earth orbit, and their intention to continue to
utilize the ISS to enable exploration through research and technology
development, including development of international standards for
exploration;

Recognizing their shared enthusiasm and long-term exploration vision for
expanding human presence deeper into the solar system, starting with
extending human presence into the lunar vicinity as a proving ground for
future missions to Mars;

Recognizing that their agencies, together with the other ISS Partners,
are studying the concept and confirmed technical feasibility of a deep
space gateway that orbits the moon;

Recognizing the deep space gateway concept can benefit from contributions and technological expertise from both agencies;

Recognizing the deep space gateway concept, supported by NASA’s Space
Launch System and Orion spacecraft, enables human presence in cis-lunar
space, acting as an important piece of infrastructure for human access
to the lunar surface, and eventually Mars, as well as, supporting
robotic missions to the lunar surface;

Expecting that the continued partnership between both agencies will
yield concrete results in maturing a flexible and sustainable deep space
infrastructure to support a steady cadence of increasingly complex
human and robotic missions in the boundless frontier of space that will
include participation from other international partners and industrial
partners;

Welcome coordinating with their governments to seek endorsement of plans
for an innovative and sustainable exploration program and their
potential respective contributions to such a program.