Japan, Singapore to cooperate for peaceful use of space

The move came after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and her Singaporean counterpart, Lawrence Wong, at a meeting in Tokyo in March agreed to upgrade the two countries' relations to a strategic partnership and identified the space sector as a pillar of the partnership.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, and the National Space Agency of Singapore signed the memorandum Monday on the sidelines of the Spacetide 2026 international space business conference in Tokyo.

This is the first bilateral agreement for NSAS.

The two space agencies will promote information-sharing and cooperation in advanced fields such as quantum satellite communications technology.

JAXA and NSAS also agreed to work together on industrial development based on the Japanese national space agency's co-funded business promotion framework.

Singapore is the third partner country for JAXA under the initiative, after Britain and France.

NSAS, launched in April under Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry, is responsible for promoting the country's space development and collaboration with foreign international space industries.

In the Southeast Asian nation, about 70 companies and around 2,000 specialists are engaged in the space sector.

Also on the fringe of Spacetide 2026, companies, universities and industry groups from Japan and Singapore concluded space cooperation pacts.

Among them, the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies and the Association of Aerospace Industries (Singapore) agreed to enhance collaboration in the aerospace, unmanned aerial vehicle and space sectors between companies from the two nations.

Warpspace Inc., a Japanese satellite communications infrastructure provider, formed a partnership with Transcelestial Technologies Pte Ltd., a Singaporean optical wireless communication technology company.

Japanese cloud technology firm Fusic Co. and Singapore's Nanyang Technological University agreed to jointly develop an artificial intelligence-driven satellite constellation operation and management system.