Discussion with Dr. Jeffrey Manber, President of International and Space Stations at Voyager Space

When Dr. Jeffrey Manber visited Japan in July, we decided to hold an urgent meeting with business and university representatives to exchange views on future commercial models for space that can be studied in cooperation with other countries through the Low Earth Orbit (LOE) space station Starlab project, which is being promoted with Ohio State University and other organizations. The purpose of this meeting was to create a space to think together about how to promote cooperation and collaboration in LEO, a space that will generate new innovations. I hope that this opportunity will promote collaboration with Japanese universities and companies and move the trend of enriching the future into full swing in the future.

In March 2023, I was invited to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the George Washington Carver Science Park Star Lab ground laboratory (TAF), a commercial low earth orbit satellite at Ohio State University (OSU) (see website for details). Ohio has a strong interest in aeronautics and space, having produced the Wright Brothers, astronaut John Glenn, and Neil Armstrong, and Ohio State University offers a course in honor of both astronauts (OSU is Takeda’s alma mater, where he earned his Ph.)

Note: In Japan, university partnerships with the West Coast and East Coast are the focus of attention, but in the Midwest, there are many Big Ten universities, including Ohio State University, the University of Michigan, Purdue University, and the University of Wisconsin, which are prominent in data science, quantum information science, and semiconductor research. Collaboration with these universities and states is also very important for Japan.