Editorial: Research fraud at Japan's space agency a betrayal of public trust

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) recently reported multiple instances of data fabrication in publicly funded experiments. This is a grievous problem that could very well damage trust in Japan's space exploration program.

The misconduct was discovered after a study was conducted to measure the stresses felt by astronauts, with an eye toward future crewed missions to the moon and Mars. Altogether, JAXA ran five experiments with 42 total volunteers in a mock space station in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, in 2016 and 2017. The volunteers spent two weeks living in the narrow spaces of the station, during which they submitted to a battery of tests and evaluations, from interviews to blood and urine sampling.

However, the research team running the experiments forged and rewrote the interview reports. It also emerged that the evaluation criteria for those reports had not been checked for their scientific validity before the experiments began. The team kept no research notes, and data recording was sloppy, including some simply jotted down in pencil.

JAXA went ahead with a major study, during which large quantities of data and samples were collected, without enough researchers capable of doing it properly.

The space agency stated in its apology over the incident that the researchers "had a dismissive attitude to the sincere collection of scientific data." Indeed, this is conduct unworthy of a scientist.

The overall project was halted in 2019 and produced no scientific papers, despite investing nearly 200 million yen (about $1.5 million) in public money.

JAXA has seized on the lack of published results to conclude that the entire debacle "does not qualify as research misconduct." But what else would one call altering and making up data but "misconduct"? The agency's judgment could be called divorced from common sense.

The man effectively responsible for the research project was astronaut and medical doctor Satoshi Furukawa, who is scheduled for a stint on the International Space Station in 2023. He was not directly involved in the experiments, but he was in a position to manage and oversee the entire project. And yet Furukawa was not at the press conference to explain the data fabrication, and has not commented publicly on the situation. We cannot call this a responsible reaction.

JAXA's presence has been growing, thanks to the Hayabusa2 mission to the Ryugu asteroid and other successes. And this case of research fraud is a betrayal of the public's expectations for the agency. To proceed steadily with Japan's space exploration going forward, JAXA must deal with the facts with the gravity they warrant, and speedily rebuild its research system.