The competition will last until March 4, 2022
TOKYO, December 20. /tass/. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has started accepting applications for participation in a new set of astronauts who will be involved in the lunar exploration program, among other things. The competition will last until March 4, 2022.
Questionnaires can be submitted through a website specially created for this purpose. After checking the documents, the selected candidates will have to pass four stages of exams. The final list of those who passed the entire competition will be published in February 2023. After that, future astronauts will officially get a job at JAXA and begin training.
The main requirement for selection is at least three years of work experience. Compared to the last recruitment, which took place 13 years ago, JAXA refused to admit only people with a natural science or technical education. This relaxation is due to the fact that specialists with different education may be required in lunar exploration programs. In addition, candidates should have good eyesight and hearing, although in general the requirements for the state of health have also become more lenient.
In case of hiring, the salary of new JAXA astronauts at the initial stage will be from 320 thousand to 360 thousand yen (from $2.8 thousand to $3.2 thousand). In addition, an annual increase in wages, bonuses and other payments, for example, for overtime work, is provided. Now JAXA has seven astronauts, the average age of the members of this group is 52 years. By the 2030s, when active exploration of the Moon is expected, only two of them will remain in service, the rest will have to retire.
In the spring of 2019, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced a draft program for the exploration and exploration of the Moon Artemis. At its third stage, it is planned to land astronauts on the Earth's satellite approximately in the late 2020s, and then send them to Mars around the mid-2030s.
Tokyo in 2019 announced its decision to join the American lunar program. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan and NASA signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of research of the Earth's natural satellite. We are talking about cooperation in the supply of equipment, the exchange of data on the lunar surface, the joint creation of a lunar rover, as well as the possible sending of Japanese astronauts to the Moon.