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Axiom Space and Mitsui & Co.,
Ltd. announce Japan-based joint venture
April 11, 2022
Building on the strategic
partnership that Axiom Space and Mitsui & Co., Ltd.
signed in September, and following Mitsui's investment
in Axiom Space, the partners have initiated the
formation of a joint venture in Japan to accelerate
on-orbit services to commercial and government
customers. This unique partnership builds on both
Axiom's in-space capabilities and Mitsui's global
industrial reach.
Together, Axiom Space and Mitsui &
Co., Ltd. are opening the doors for non-traditional
users to leverage the advantages of space, including
microgravity and the unique vantage point of Low Earth
Orbit. These services broaden international human
spaceflight, research, manufacturing, and other
opportunities at the International Space Station, and
enhance a growing set of opportunities at Axiom Station,
now under construction.
Axiom and Mitsui have been meeting
with and onboarding commercial customers in consumer
electronics, entertainment, agri-tech, chem-tech,
marketing/advertising and other sectors. Discussions
have also expanded to government organizations, space
agencies and NGOs. With the increased
volume of the partners' activity in Japan, they are
establishing operations together to support the rapidly
growing customer base.
Axiom Space launched the world's
first all-private crew to the International Space
Station on April 8, 2022. Back on Earth, Axiom now has
$500 million in customer contracts, 420 employees and is
on track to have closed more than $1 billion of customer
contracts before the end of 2022. The first sections of
Axiom Station are on schedule for launch to orbit in
2024 and 2025, where they will be connected to the ISS
following the completion of verification and validation
exercises. A few years later the completed Axiom Station
will detach, providing a direct path to adopt much of
the ISS user base.
Axiom Space's Chief Business
Officer Amir Blachman said, "We recognized Mitsui's
distinguished track record of creating global-scale
industrial partnerships in the government and commercial
sectors. With Mitsui, we aim to accelerate the
development of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and
advanced materials that improve the quality of life on
Earth. We will also integrate our companies'
capabilities to answer the growing demand for on-orbit
satellite deployment and servicing, cloud computing,
entertainment and exploration systems in orbit."
Mitsui & Co., Ltd. is a global
trading and investment company with a diversified
business portfolio that spans approximately 63 countries
in Asia, Europe, North, Central & South America, The
Middle East, Africa and Oceania with over 43,000
employees. Mitsui also has a growing footprint in space.
The company was selected by the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA) as a service provider for
CubeSat deployment from the Japanese KIBO module at ISS,
and was commissioned by JAXA to conduct the preliminary
business concept study assuming the use of KIBO
Pressurized Module in JFY 2020.
"Mitsui took this step with Axiom
because of its progress far ahead of other entities who
have proposed to build space stations," Mitsui & Co.,
Ltd., General Manager, Space Business Dept., Kazutomi
Shigeeda said. "Axiom's unique partnership with the ISS
Program and physical connection to the ISS, its peerless
leadership team, and progress with commercial and
government customers, position Axiom to lead the future
of industry in Low Earth Orbit and we have already
started jointly to develop these large markets."
Together, the companies aim to
build on that progress and execute a shared vision – to
open space to a broad user base, providing data to help
solve global-scale problems, create competitive
products, and allow continued opportunities for
countries to cooperate in space.
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