Utsunomiya City in Tochigi has raised 20 million yen to be used for space industry development through the corporate version of Furusato Tax. Furusato is a system in Japan where taxpayers can nominate some of their taxes to go to regions other than the one they reside in.

The donation will be used to support the research and development of Bull, a start-up which is developing a space waste prevention device that will accelerate the reentry of retired rockets and satellites, thereby hastening their burnup in the atmosphere.

The donation was made possible through the cooperation of 17 companies outside Utsunomiya. Representatives from each company attended an appreciation ceremony held at City Hall on March 13, where Mayor Eiichi Sato said, “through this initiative, Utsunomiya intends to encourage the growth of promising local companies and promote the clustering of space-related industries.”

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