Two men hold up a document representing the space domain awareness agreement signed by IHI Corp. and Northrop Grumman.
IHI vice president Fumiharu Namiki, second from left, shakes hands with Northrop Grumman vice president Troy Brashear March 15, holding a signed MOU on jointly developing “small, highly maneuverable satellites and other solutions” that will help bolster Japan’s space domain awareness capabilities. Standing far left is Manabu Mannam, a director general of Japan’s defense ministry, and far right is U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel.

Northrop Grumman and Japanese heavy-industry manufacturer IHI Corporation have signed a memorandum of understanding March 15 to develop “small, highly maneuverable satellites and other solutions” that will help bolster Japan’s space domain awareness capabilities, particularly for geosynchronous orbit. 

This post is only available to members.

Brian Berger is editor in chief of SpaceNews.com and the SpaceNews magazine. He joined SpaceNews.com in 1998, spending his first decade with the publication covering NASA. He was named senior staff writer in 2004, a position he held until being named...