JAXA Reports Research Data Fabrication

Tokyo, Nov. 25 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, on Friday reported fabrication of data on a now-aborted ground experiment on space medicine supervised by Japanese astronaut and doctor Satoshi Furukawa.

JAXA reported the misconduct to the science and health ministries as a violation of ethical guidelines on medical research set by the government.

"Sloppy handling of data and inadequate management undermined the scientific value of the research as a whole," JAXA Vice President Hiroshi Sasaki, also director-general for the institution's Human Spaceflight Technology Directorate, told a press conference.

Furukawa, 58, was not directly involved in the problematic practices related to the experiment in question, which also included data falsification, Sasaki said.

But Furukawa bears responsibility as a person in charge of managing and supervising the experiment, Sasaki added, indicating that JAXA will take disciplinary action against people linked to the misconduct.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]