Some critics would assume that this is testimony that the Japanese Space Agency is as disorganized as any other typical Japanese company and say the next question is when will they learn. Others have said it's a sad truth that Japan seriously lacks the skills and know-hows involved in a huge aerospace project like this. Individual components might not be too bad, but when they are put together it crumbles. Japan had also hoped that the H2-A, meant to be a cheaper and more reliable replacement for its predecessor, the H-2, would boost the country's commercial launch business. But it is still seen as too expensive to compete with European, Russian and American rivals. Costs and finance are becoming a probelm in Japan's economy. Some say it has reached stagnation, saying the scary truth is that almost 50% of the budget is covered by issuing new government bonds. Bonds mostly bought by japanese citizens or investment funds, since foreign banks have been dropping out of the japanese bonds market lately. Others say point is that these bonds could easily become junk bonds, with no return if/when the crack comes. And when people cannot get their savings back because the government allready spent it and has no means of paying it back, in that scenario I would find it much more decent of them to actually call it a tax in the first place.
Space officials believe the current satellite program is too complex – and have linked its numerous failures to a combination of the long time needed to develop a satellite and an overly ambitious launch schedule – said the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, citing unidentified officials. There was a recent total failure in the Mars mission. Another domestically developed rocket, carrying two Japanese spy satellites, veered off course and was destroyed in mid-air . There were plans to put Japan’s first probe into an orbit around Mars had a huge error and other problems have arisen also un releated to space but link to finance. Critics say the Economy is going stagnant, the exports and leadership has dropped and thailand, China and other Asian nations growth in technology is now starting to cost the Japan economy. Some say to look at the macroeconomic numbers for japan I and know that the japanese national treasury is not exactly swimming in a pool of extra money, but the degree to which would make one almost speechless. Economic problems could make the space industry scale back. Recently a repot came out which said more Japanese committed suicide last year than ever before as poor economic conditions drove greater numbers to end their own lives. Suicides rose 7.1% to 32 082 in 2003 from 29 949 the year before, the Health Ministry said. It was one of the leading causes of death after cancer, heart disease and other illnesses. These problems are costing the nation money so spending on Space could be cut back and there might be a big loss.
Larger satellite launches need about three years of planning and five years of engineering – but at least one launch had been scheduled per year, it said. The cost of labour is still ultra high in the japan nation and there are also many economic problems faced by Japan. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is thinking about abandoning that framework. Recently Japan's prime minister Junichiro Koizumi was embroiled in a pensions scandal that has already forced the resignation of his right-hand man and the leader of the main opposition party. If the government raises premium payments made by beneficiaries, the financial obligation of business corporations contributing to the pension system will increase. If the government implements this policy, business corporations will be forced to cut salaries of their employees this will cost industry and production. Some people have said the fall of the eilte households and noble famalies is hurting Japan . They say Japanese economy is failing because of the Keiretsu system doesn't work in a global ecomony, at least not after the Japanese caught up to other major players. My Japanese history is a little weak, but I'll try to briefly explain the Keiretsu as best I know for those that have never heard of them. Hundreds of years ago there were these very powerful sumarai families that got involved in trade and had close ties with Japanese government, sometimes through marriage. These families were called zaibatsus , and even today Japan is still not a democracy, instead it is a sytem of social inequality and hierarchy and is a very closed country to foreign people . The keiretsu companies today are the likes of Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Sanwa, Fuyo, and Ikkan. These companies have vertical and horizontal ownership in the trade process. An auto consumer advocany site has the following to say about Mitsubishi: Mitsubishi has never quite caught on in the U.S. market. Reading the reports in this section suggests that may not be such a bad thing. The company seems to have a higher percentage of glitches than most and it doesn't exactly knock itself out making the customer whole.
On the private debt side, estimates of the size of bad loans held by banks here range from the official figure of $370 billion to nearly triple that amount. Not only are the banks reluctant to pull plugs on companies, but the government is reluctant to pull plugs on banks.
On the public debt side, Japan' s political class, top-heavy with men in their 60' s and 70' s, has few qualms about buying social peace today by running up whopping fiscal bills they will never have to pay. Japan' s ratio of government debt to gross domestic product is estimated at 110 percent, the highest of major world economies. The American ratio is around 65 percent. In five more years, it will be close to 200 percent, and that will be intolerable," said Mr. Ito of Tokyo University. " Then, something very unpleasant will happen — hyperinflation, a major devaluation, a major tax increase. The standard of living will decline one way or another. It will be quite a shock." This could mean the end of Japan's Space program.
and they designed wonderful craft like the Viking. Later there came other players the British designs for craft, the French rockets, the Japanese, the Chinese, the Italian designs for probes and now the ESA projects.
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Originally Posted by Launch window
Wasat? WASA would be really something. 
