History
In 1985, Japan finalized its decision to participate in the International Space Station program. While Japan's main space agency at the time, the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA, now part of JAXA) had experience with launch vehicles and civilian application satellites, it lacked both the technical expertise and human resources for human spaceflight. JAMSS was founded in May 1990 as a private company to assist NASDA in the development and operation of the ISS's Japanese Experiment Module. Initial funding was provided from the private sector.
In 2005, JAMSS announced plans to jointly conduct experiments in space with space tourist Daisuke Enomoto.[6]
In 2007, JAMSS signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Rocketplane Kistler to develop commercial launch support for Japanese users of the ISS.[7][8]
In 2009, JAMSS America, Inc. assisted Orbital Sciences Corporation (now part of Northrop Grumman) procure the proximity link system for the Cygnus cargo spacecraft from Japan's Mitsubishi Electric. The proximity link system will be used by Cygnus to communicate with the ISS.[9][10]
On 30 September 2014, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space awarded a research grant to JAMSS America, Inc. to use the ISS for the Global AIS on Space Station (GLASS) project.[11]
In 2015, two satellites from Brazil that JAMSS was contracted to deploy were released into space from the ISS. The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica's AESP-14 was deployed on 5 February 2015, and University of Brasília's SERPENS was deployed on 17 September 2015.[12]
In November 2015, JAMSS America, Inc. signed a MoU with UK's Satellite Applications Catapult for cooperation in the commercialization of space.[13]
In 2016, JAMSS's project to utilize information and communications technology such as satellite remote sensing for the cultivation of rice in Funagata, Yamagata was selected by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries as a pilot project of advanced agriculture through the partnership of agricultural and business sectors.[14]
In 2017, JAMSS signed a MoU with Axiom Space for cooperation on the utilization of the Axiom Station.[15][16]
In December 2018, JAMSS contracted Belgium's Space Applications Services (SpaceApps) to host JAMSS's Kirara unit on SpaceApp's ICE Cubes Facility.[17][18]
In July 2022, JAMSS was selected by Ehime Prefecture to accelerate the use of digital technology in rice cultivation.[19]
In September 2023, JAMSS was selected by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) to provide support for conducting exposure experiments on the ISS's exterior. JAMSS will utilize Aegis Aerospace's Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) platform to conduct experiments for JAMSTEC.[20]
In July 2024, JAMSS signed a Letter Of Support with Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the utilization of cloud services in low Earth orbit.[21]
In October 2024, JAMSS and Science Co., Ltd. announced that they will conduct joint research for the realization of showers in space.[22] The two companies aim to conduct demonstration tests of the space shower at the ISS. A mockup of the system was exhibited at the Expo 2025.[23]
On 24 March 2025, JAMSS signed an agreement with Vast, becoming Asia's first payload partner for Vast's Haven-1 commercial space station.[24] JAMSS's KLABOX will be placed inside Haven-1.
