Ichiro Taniguchi Managing Director Electronic Products and Systems Group, Mitsubishi Electric Corp. Introduction:

For more than two decades, Ichiro Taniguchi has played an integral role in the development of space technology in Japan. In 1975 he was the leader of Mitsubishi Electric corp.'s (Melco) Kamakura works, the company's main space and defense systems production facility outside Tokyo, at a time when Japan was gearing up for the launch of the national space development agency of Japan's first satellite, Engineering Test Satellite 1 (ETS-1).

He joined Mitsubishi's central research laboratory in 1959 after graduating with a degree in physics from Kyoto University and later spent 18 years at Kamakura, rising to become general manager. Originally a specialist in laser development, Taniguchi's responsibilities grew to encompass the research and development of missile, defense and fire control systems.

He became directly involved in Melco's space activities in 1979 when he oversaw the design and development of ETS-4, Japan's first independently developed satellite. Taniguchi's goal is to further Mitsubishi's drive into commercial satellite development and to double Melco�s Melco over the next decade.

Interview:

Q. How will a flat national space impact competition among Japanese satellite contractors?

A. We want to push NASDA to give us more money for development. In Japan we have three major satellite manufacturing companies. Mitsubishi has a backlog of four, NEC three and Toshiba has one contract. We wish to maintain first position. The budget increase is 1.7 percent and satellite development takes up only 20 percent of that. We want NASDA to increase the satellite budget. I don't know what the situation is in the United States, but in Japan 20 percent is all that's on then table.

Q. NEC wants to go into commercial satellite production in 2000 using the Optical Inter-orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite (OICETS) and Highly Advanced Laboratory for Communications and Astronomy (HALCA) buses as a base. What are Mitsubishi's plans?

A. NEC is going into the commercial market, they are doing world-wide satellite component and subsystems supply businesses just as we are doing, but I believe only Melco is really doing this globally. We sell 10 major items and all included, we do business globally worth more than $60 million. Now we have an export sales target of $100 million. At this moment we are doing much better than NEC, but by 2000 we will break the $100 million dollar mark and then we'll move into commercial satellite development.

Q. How are you going to get to the $100 million mark?

A. Well, I don't have an idea to develop new components or subsystems. I guess that the demand for commercial satellites is increasing so our sales will grow along with this trend. Nobody knows the numbers of commercial satellites but I have a projection that it will be 250-300 satellites in the coming 10 years.

Q. When will Melco start selling commercial satellite buses?

A. I'm not quite sure, we are not ready to go into the market yet, but within a few years.

Q. Are you saying sometime in 2002-2005?

A. I'm not sure, it depends on the market.

Q. What is the biggest challenge entering this market?

A. In their phases of development 10 years ago, Hughes, Space Systems/Loral and Lockheed Martin faced similar problems to the ones we face now. Their standard models were developed further, leading to the development of standard buses like the 601, 702, and now the A2100 and Omega, so every company has a latest version second or third generation standard bus. We are now at the first stage of commercial satellite development but we are challenging second generation systems, so ours will be a brand new system at the same level. Anyway we will challenge the international market. Because of the nature of NASDA's development we have been unable to develop a standard bus, which needs to change.

Q. What areas are you looking at?

A. Well we are now studying this privately for commercial satellites. I wish that our bus will be the equal of the standard buses of Hughes, Lockheed Martin and Space Systems/Loral. We won't go for the smaller systems.

Q. How will you be able to cut your prices? Won't you have to cut them in half to succeed?

A. What does half mean? We have nothing to compare half against. We think in terms of the worldwide standard price and are thinking of $100 million to $150 million as our mission. To match the global satellite price is our goal.

Q. How?

A. We may not have a standard bus but we have the experience to build them and the design capability, we also have the knowledge and experience of how to reduce costs, and will apply these. We have many ideas on how to do this and we are making the effort.

Q. For example?

A. Four years ago we introduced new production systems. At that time our costs were almost twice or three times higher than present costs, for example with SSPAs, panels and antennas, we've reduced costs by a third or a half. Kamakura works has the capabilities to do this again. The reduction of cost will be achieved through redesign.

Q. Has research and development begun on the commercial bus?

A. We have had a strategy for a long time. We have been researching this since a few years ago. The first step was the production of global subsystems.

Q. How much will you spend?

A. We're talking about many tens of millions of dollars and we are now studying this. Whatever is necessary. We will invest in building a commercial satellite program and we are studying the feasibility of entering the satellite market.

Q. What production capacity are you looking at?

A. It's just a preliminary plan, but our target for the first step will be four satellites per year, our second step will be six. It all depends on the size of the market and how successful we are at selling.

Q. By the middle of next decade?

A. That's too late! Our capability will be four per year before 2005. We have the capacity to build two or three simultaneously right now and we'll need more facilities.

Q. Given worldwide demand for 250 satellites, how much of this market would you like to capture?

A. Our target is maybe five percent per a year, my personal desire is get 20 percent.

Q. And realistically?

A. I'd like two or three a year. I guess it'll be three a year. I need to get us three a year. We'll have to make some investment, development will take many tens of millions of dollars so we need three to survive. It's a rough estimation. We have an image to build new plants and three satellites per year, but I'm still considering the details.

Q. Who will your customers be?

A. Everyone. The first customer should be Space Communications Corp. of Tokyo because Space Communications Corp. is a Mitsubishi Group satellite operator. Space Communications Corp. needs replacements for Superbird A and B.

Q. Will U.S. manufacturers be worried about that?

A. Space Systems/Loral and Hughes are global companies. You could say that Space Communications Corp. has favored U.S. companies, not Mitsubishi.

Q. What have been the most important events for you in the development of Japan's space activities?

A. ETS-4 was the first completely domestic-built satellite independent of technology transfer, a product of Japan's own research and development. It was rather a simple satellite, but very large for us. It was the spearhead of Japan's geostationary satellite program. We had almost 400 hundred engineers working on this project and my job was to manage them.

Q. What else?

A. For almost eight to nine years I wasn't directly involved in the space industry, so I skipped nine years. But after 1990, things became important, especially after 1992 and 1993 with the launch of the Japan Earth Remote Sensing Satellite-1,Superbird 1 and 2, and the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite. The National Space Development Agency and Space Communications Corp. launched key satellites which were all impressive. Regarding the Japan Earth Remote Sensing Satellite-1 we had to wait almost 40 days for the antenna to deploy completely. After it was finally deployed, I was very excited, it was very impressive for me.

Q. How did you feel about the problem with the Highly Advanced Laboratory for Communications and Astronomy? People feared that the last of the struts on the antenna might not extend fully. Was it a case of Deja-vu?

A. I was not anxious about that. It had almost been deployed and there were only the last 15 millimeters to go. I believed that it would happen either the next day or the day after. I believed in it, I wasn't so anxious. I had confidence in it.

Q. Were there not a lot of people at Uchinoura holding their breath?

A. I didn't worry about that because I experienced this in the JERS-1 program. We had deployed 6 expanding struts. Five were completely OK. Just before full extension, the last rod was pushing against a very strong tension. It was going to take time to lock, I thought, so I said to myself, "tomorrow."

Q. Mitsubishi has won 51 percent of NASDA's prime contracts for satellite buses. How?

A. I don't know. I believe we have the capability to build satellites, the basic technologies, the engineering capacity, the system integration skills, the overall engineering power and the ability to plan and develop the subsystems.

Q. Which in particular has been most important?

A. It is the systems integration and design capability. Anyway, we have all the capabilities to succeed.

Q. Which satellite has been the most challenging to develop?

A. All the satellites have been challenges. NASDA's program demands the continuous redevelopment of new technologies for their satellites, so every satellite is a big challenge. Each takes new designs and redevelopment for every mission.