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TOKYO _ Japan's space agency plans to test an unmanned landing and take-off system next month that it hopes will one day be used in a reusable shuttle or other spacecraft, officials said Thursday TOKYO _ Japan's space agency plans to test an unmanned landing and take-off system next month that it hopes will one day be used in a reusable shuttle or other spacecraft, officials said Thursday. The five-part tests are to begin next month on Christmas Island in the Micronesian archipelago of Kiribati and will be followed by a second set of tests sometime next year. Junichi Moriuma of the National Space Development Agency, or NASDA, said the tests will use an unmanned airplane equipped with the experimental steep-angle takeoff and landing system. The system was originally envisioned for use in Japan's Hope-X project, which was started in the 1980s to develop a reusable unmanned space shuttle. Japan had originally planned to launch Hope-X in 2004, but the project was put on hold two years ago after it fell four years behind schedule. Originally, the 20-ton shuttle was to be launched by the domestically developed H-2 rocket, but the program has been plagued by technical glitches and financial problems. Takaaki Akuto of the National Aerospace Laboratory said next month's $23.7 million tests, paid for with public funds, are being conducted for future space programs, and are no longer related to Hope-X. Though Japan has sent an unmanned probe into lunar orbit and is striving to compete in the commercial satellite launching market, its space program has been rife with problems. Last week, a series of technical glitches forced the space agency to twice call off test countdowns for the launch of its newest H-2 rocket, now set for Sept. 10.
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