On February 3, 2025, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Centre National D'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) signed an Implementing Arrangement (IA) for cooperation on the High-sensitivity Solar Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Satellite (SOLAR-C).
Mr. Suchet, President of CNES (left) and Dr. Kuninaka, Director General of ISAS (right) (Credit: JAXA)
The signing ceremony was held at CNES headquarters in Paris, France and was attended by Kuninaka Hitoshi, Director General of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), JAXA and Lionel Suchet, President of CNES.
SOLAR-C is a Japan-led international cooperative project involving Japan, the United States, and Europe, scheduled for launch in FY 2028. The mission aims to create an unprecedented high-performance ultraviolet telescope to observe the Sun and its atmosphere, and to elucidate the formation of high-temperature solar plasma and the impact of the Sun on the Earth and the Solar System.
CNES will support the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) research teams (at Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale and at Laboratoire Charles Fabry) for developing EGA (EUVST Grating Assembly) and will provide this component related to spectroscopic functions for the EUVST (EUV High-throughput Spectroscopic Telescope), an observation telescope that will be mounted on SOLAR-C, which is being developed primarily by the JAXA Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and collaborating institutions.
Following this agreement, JAXA will continue to collaborate with CNES to achieve further scientific results.