NEC Launches Orbital Transfer Vehicle Development Project Aiming for Asia’s First Vehicle Deployment through JAXA’s Space Strategy Fund Program
TOKYO, May 15, 2026 – (JCN Newswire) –NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) has actually introduced a task to establish an Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) following its choice by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the firm’s choice to award NEC with a grant for the innovation advancement style “Technologies for Realizing Flexible Mobility in Space: (A) Development of Inter-Orbital Transportation Vehicles.” Through this job, NEC intends to accomplish the very first execution of OTV in Asia (* 1).
Conceptual illustration of an Orbital Transfer Vehicle
An OTV is a spacecraft created to carry satellites to their desired orbits, such as a geostationary or lunar orbit, after they have actually separated from their rockets. Usually, after a rocket positions a satellite into a preliminary orbit, the satellite should utilize its own big engines and a considerable quantity of fuel to reach its location. By having an OTV perform this transportation, even little satellites without big engines can be released to far-off orbits. Considering that OTVs can concurrently carry numerous little satellites to geostationary or lunar orbits, they likewise contribute to enhanced transportation performance.
As an outcome, OTVs are anticipated to make crucial contributions to speeding up all elements of area advancement. Not just will they promote the advancement of future area economies– such as the usage of geostationary orbits and cislunar area (* 2)– however by decreasing the barriers to area usage, they will likewise motivate the entry of brand-new operators into the sector.
NEC has more than half a century of experience in the advancement and manufacture of spacecraft, consisting of the geostationary satellite “Kizuna” (WINDS), the lunar orbiter “Kaguya” (SELENE), and the deep-space probe “Hayabusa2.” Making use of its advancement innovations and functional know-how for spacecraft created for these varied orbital environments, NEC is carrying out the OTV advancement task. Progressing, NEC prepares to carry out market expediency research studies, conceptual style, and presentations for OTVs by the end of 2027 to clarify the needed functions and other requirements. Following this, NEC prepares to start advancement of a presentation design in 2028, with the objective of introducing it and carrying out in-space presentations in 2032, and intends to bring the innovation to useful usage in the future.
NEC is establishing extremely competitive OTVs to broaden the marketplace through the development of Japan’s area market, recognize objectives that provide social advantages, and deepen research study activities focused on checking out brand-new frontiers.
(* 1)As of May 13, 2026, research study by NEC
(* 2)The large area of area in between Earth and the Moon.
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