Taiwanese rocket startup may be early test of Japan's space hub plans

Taiwanese startup TiSpace aims to launch rocket from Japan, boosting Tokyo's space industry ambitions.

A Taiwanese startup aims to become the first foreign firm to launch a rocket from Japan by early next year, part of a plan industry advocates say will aid Tokyo's ambitions of becoming a space hub in Asia.

The planned suborbital launch by TiSpace has faced regulatory hurdles and delays amid questions over whether Japan should embrace overseas business as part of its effort to double the size of its 4 trillion yen ($26 billion) space industry over the next decade.

The private firm, co-founded in 2016 by current and former officials from Taiwan's space agency, has not had a successful launch. Its most recent attempt to fly a rocket, via its sister company AtSpace in Australia in 2022, failed because of an oxidizer leak. The rocket to be tested in Japan is a different design.

"This (planned launch) should be a very good case for the Japanese government," TiSpace chairman Yen-sen Chen told Reuters in an interview. "If that goes smoothly, then you will attract more customers from other countries."

He said the firm is waiting on one last regulatory approval, a radio permit that will enable the launch of the company's 12-metre (39 ft) sounding rocket, which he hopes will occur by early 2025. A sounding rocket can reach space but does not achieve orbit.

Some analysts have said launching a Taiwanese rocket in Japan might draw the attention of China, which claims Taiwan as its own over the strong objections of the government in Taipei, and monitors the island's advancements in missile-related technologies. But so far, Chen said, he had not heard any concerns.

China's foreign ministry said it was "not aware of the relevant circumstances" of the launch.