A growing number of actors have become involved in space exploration in recent years. International cooperation is key, with the ISS showing a great example of what can be achieved when space agencies from different countries cooperate. But the present geopolitical context of growing frictions between global powers is rendering continued collaboration uncertain, and may lead to more intense competition for hegemony in space in the future.

In this seminar moderated by Sara Russell, Naoko Yamazaki will discuss the impact of changing relationships between the major national players on prospects for future international cooperation in space exploration, and the contribution of Japan’s innovative space programme.

About the contributors

Special Guest: Naoko Yamazaki

Naoko Yamazaki is an aerospace engineer and an astronaut.  In April 2010, she was onboard the Space Shuttle Discovery as part of the crew of STS-131, an assembly and resupply mission to the International Space Station. Since retiring from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) in 2011, Yamazaki served as a member of the Japan Space Policy Committee that is part of the government’s Cabinet Office (2012-2022) and its subcommittees (2012-present). Yamazaki is also the representative director of Space Port Japan Association, an alliance of space corporations and local governments with interest in space. Its aim is to establish multiple spaceports in Japan as Asian hubs. In 2020, Yamazaki joined the council of the Earthshot Prize, a global environment prize intended to inspire a decade of action to repair the planet. She grew up in Chiba prefecture of Japan, close to Tokyo. Her degree in aerospace engineering was from the University of Tokyo

Professor Sara Russell

Professor Sara Russell is The Natural History Museum’s Merit Researcher in Cosmic Mineralogy and Planetary Sciences. Sara and her team are interested in the formation of the Solar System and the formation and evolution of moons of the terrestrial planets. They are currently working on topics such as the origin of water in the Solar System, transport within the early protoplanetary disk, and geological processes in asteroids, using the Museum meteorite collection and samples returned from space as the bedrock of their research. Sara is a Science Team member of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, a member of the JAXA’s Hayabusa2 Analysis Team, and an ESA representative on the International Science Board of JAXA’s MMX mission.