Japan will use its computer and fiber knowhow to design gear weighing 20 kilograms (44 pounds), down from the burdensome 120 kilograms (265 pounds) of the current US-made outfit, a space agency official said.

Space suits, which are also made by Russia, must shield humans from massive change in temperature and protect them from nuisances such as meteoric stones.

The agency aims to develop the new space outfit in time for the US manned mission to the Moon due in 2018, the first since 1972.

A special team of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has launched a feasibility study due to be completed by March.

"We believe that Japan has strong points in terms of technologies related to the development of space suits," the official said.

"We also hope that the development of our own space suit will help us expand our own space activities," he said.

Japan has boosted the budget of its space program but has seen a series of setbacks. Last month a spacecraft failed on its landmark mission to collect samples from an asteroid.

All rights reserved. copyright 2018 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.