The governments of Japan and the U.S. plan to share information on suspicious satellites and space junk in Earth's orbit when they revise their bilateral defense cooperation guidelines, sources close to Japan-U.S. relations said.
The guidelines, to be updated on April 27 for the first time since 1997, will provide for cooperation in the new field of Space Situational Awareness, or detecting and identifying objects in orbit, and on maritime surveillance from space, the sources said Saturday.
The move is likely to serve as a deterrent to China, which is ramping up its presence both at sea and in space, including the development of anti-satellite weaponry.