Japan's space agency to build a digital twin of its ISS module – right before it retires

It's the space economy, stupid

Japan's space agency announced on Thursday it is making an open source digital copy of its International Space Station (ISS) module, in what it is calling the world's first "Space Digital Twin."

The endeavor is taking place through a collaboration with space-related digital application biz SpaceData Inc.

The resulting digital twin will include environmental data – such as temperature, humidity, airflow, and illumination – that was collected from the Kibo module, Japan’s lab attached to the ISS.

The team also plans to recreate Int-Ball, the drone that lives within KIBO, in the digital environment. JAXA framed that part of the digital twin as "providing a valuable simulation environment for space robotics."

"By simulating the space environment in a digital format, the project will create a virtual testing ground where space-related business ideas and technologies can be experimented with in a low-cost and easily accessible manner," states a press release.

In other words, no need to waste precious and costly launch and operational resources just to get an idea of how experiments and tools will pan out.

JAXA claimed the digital twin will "[improve] the predictability of future projects" and serve a wide range of industries – including gaming, streaming, broadcasting and virtual space tourism.

The Reg hopes – and assumes – it will benefit actual science too. Afterall, JAXA has already done virtual remote-controlled robotic space tourism.

The project will swing into gear despite the ISS's being slated to retire in 2030, when NASA will transition to using commercial services – like those currently being prepped for low Earth orbit research and habitation facilities.

JAXA senior advisor Yusuke Matsumura enthused that the project "could spark the creation of businesses that we haven't even imagined yet" as commercial stations "open the door to entirely new uses of space."

He mused, "I hope that in ten years, we'll look back and recognize this as the moment when the space economy truly began." ®