We have narrowed down the objectives articulated in the Vision. As far as space is concerned, we'll focus mainly on three areas: expansion of space utilization, further development of space science, and space access technology. I don't think that this is too ambitious.

Regarding expansion of space utilization, apart from communications, broadcasting and weather forecasting, which have already been established, we want to focus on other, undeveloped areas, such as the imminent matters of natural disaster management and environmental issues.

We have also selectively narrowed down the targets for space science. We are going to focus on areas that have been widely recognized, such as X-ray astronomy and infrared astronomy. Apart from astronomy, there is also solar system exploration, concentrating on the inner planets, which are essential to solving the mystery of Earth's origin. We are also looking at deep space exploration.

At a time when the United States and Europe still hadn't made up their minds about whether to concentrate their energies on the moon or Mars, Japan had already decided to focus on lunar exploration and utilization. Lunar utilization consists of three main pillars. The first one involves establishing a stable base on the moon to enable permanent lunar exploration and the construction of an astronomical observatory there. The second pillar involves utilizing lunar resources. If we can discover resources other than helium-3, which has already been found, we'll be able to use those resources effectively. And the third pillar involves attempting to turn the moon into a base for missions to other planets.

Naturally, it will be impossible to conduct space activities just with robots, and we'll need human bodies. That means that we need to develop human space access, while increasing the reliability of robots. This is what space access technology entails. I'm not being unrealistic in talking about this here.