InJuly 9th, Japan government signed the participation to Artemis program, Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway Program led by the US. EU and Canada join this program, while China and Russia plan similar program independently.
My comment for this issue is how Japanese government acquire the budget for implementing and operating the program.
Annual budge of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA) has continued to be stable in 150 billion yen, 1.5 billion USD for more than 10 years. Operation budget for ISS is estimated to be 40 billion yen, 0.4 billion USD. Aerospace Experts estimate that it will cost 500 billion yen, 5 billion USD , in order to deliver one Japanese astronaut to the moon.
It will take at least 10 years, even if all budget for ISS is allocated to the program. However, it is impossible to set zero budget for ISS in 2024.
I am skeptical that other aerospace budget such as space science will be cut to save implementation cost.
