An enabler or a barrier? "NewSpace" and Japan's two national space acts of 2016

On November 16, 2016, two new national space acts were promulgated in Japan. One is Space Activities Act which provides for the licensing and supervision systems of launching a rocket and satellite. The other is High-Resolution Remote Sensing Satellite and Data Act in order to protect national and international security while promoting business using the remotely-sensed data from outer space. Among the two, Space Activities Act is especially supposed to aim at enhancing the potentials of private space actors. However, this Space Activities Act may be, at least at its first glance, found as rather conservative in contents as it does not allow, e.g., private entities to venture into a human space project even if that is suborbital flight. Nor does it refer to the recovery of extraterritorial resources, active space debris removal nor on-orbit servicing of satellites. The main reason for this lies in the fact that Japan's law making has a tacit principle that without a series of actual technological demonstration, no legal conditions for the authorization should be set out. However, it does not necessarily hinder private companies to start "NewSpace" businesses except space tourism, which is prohibited under this Space Activities Act. This article studies if "NewSpace" activities can be fully developed into a business under the licensing system of the 2016 Space Activities Act of Japan through the interpretation of this Act. In doing so, emphasis is placed on the characteristics of this Act such as the scope of the required licensees and the national jurisdiction rather restricted in comparison with other national space acts as well as the new elements found in this Act to lead to the conclusion that conservative national act is not a disabler of "NewSpace." The function of the Remote Sensing Act to promote "NewSpace" is also explored. Finally, some analysis of the two Cabinet Office Orders and supplementing standards to be used for licensing and supervision will be presented while at the time of writing of this Article, they may not have been completed. The tentative conclusion of the present author is that the two new acts will function as more an enabler than barrier as those are made in such a broad way that by making appropriate enforcing regulations, almost any activity could be fit including active space removal and space resources exploration and utilization.