The future of space 2025 : Integration, Investment, and Innovation

31 Oct 2025

I thank the Nikkei Forum for organising the future of space conference and sparking vibrant discussion on new opportunities in the space sector.

International cooperation was one of the main goals of the program and I was pleased to learn that Japan was actively cultivating partnerships with the AU and UAE —two nations that have made their space aspirations quite clear and indicated interest to actively participate in the space economy.

Space has been dominated by government and military organisations and Non space companies have played a minor role. It is important to change this but financial and technical challenges are prohibitive.

Some companies like blue origin and virgin galactic have tried to create business cases out of space based tourism but it's too early to conclude whether their models will succeed or fail. As things stand telecom companies remain the only true private sector partner of the space industry.

Human resource development is necessary. Space is strategically important but lacks financial strength to attract talent. One of the reasons for this is that space professionals have isolated themselves from consumer markets. Historically the space sector played an important role in improving technologies from ICs to alloys,ceramics and water purification but not anymore.

As long as industries remain isolated it will be very difficult to justify investment in space. Space exploration is great in principle but encounters several practical challenges. 99.9999999% of the solar system and 99.999999999999% of outer space is made up of nothing. Some missions like those revolving around asteroid mining try to build a use case for exploration. Hayabusa 1 and 2 even succeeded in bringing back samples but the transit times are so long that it doesn't make economical sense to pursue unless it can deliver tangible results on earth like possibly deep sea mining tech improvements which may very well be the ultimate goal.

Since formation of JAXA in 2003 japanese space pursuits have become more organised. But Japan has been facing political challenges domestically since the assassination of Shinzo Abe in 2022. Geopolitically Japan is weak due to continued military occupation by the USA since WW2 that prevents it from exercising strategic autonomy. Despite this Japan continues to push out new innovations like the recently unveiled wooden satellite Lignosat that can make space more sustainable and reduce debris.

Space works at the cutting edge and if the space industry could enable rapid transfer of technology then it could achieve more financial success.

Remarks on the space policy conference India 2025

Akshat Jiwan Sharma

Strategy Consultant--Innovation/ Materials science/International relations/Telecommunications/Digital Transformation/Partnerships

Mobile/whatsapp:+919654119771

email:getellobed@gmail.com

Comments

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Notes by Akshat Jiwan Sharma

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