QZSS Finally Gets Its Due

摘要

Japan's contract award to Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (Melco) to build three more satellites for its regional GPS augmentation constellation is a welcome development on a program that had bogged down badly over plans to have industry invest substantially in system construction and deployment. While the prospect of industry co-financing undoubtedly made the ambitious Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) project more palatable to a fiscally challenged Japanese government, the reality is that, when push comes to shove, few companies are willing to invest on that scale amid a high degree of uncertainty about the return.