ESA and JAXA confirm further cooperation in space

ESA Director General Johann-Dietrich Wörner and JAXA President Naoki Okumura with a joint statement detailing their agency's partnership and future collaboration at the International Space Exploration Forum ISEF2 on 3 March in Tokyo, Japan.

Japan and Europe have a shared vision for space exploration and intend to work even more closely together on preparing exploration of the Moon. 

The statement included a commitment to providing data to help tackle global environmental issues as stipulated in the Paris climate agreement. JAXA will launch the GOSAT-2 satellite this year to collect greenhouse gas data. This will be shared and complement European missions, such as Copernicus Sentinel-5P.

Japan and ESA are already partners in the International Space Station, as well as the BepiColombo mission to Mercury.