[mathrawka]

Actually Japanese quote from the Project Manager, Sakai-san, is:

> いろんな意味で新しい扉が開き、今後、これまでできなかったようなミッションができるようになるのでは。そこが一番の意義ではないか

I'm far from a translator... but it is not "We opened a door" but "A door is open to do missions that were not possible before". And he says that might be the most important takeaway from this project.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/08a8bfdd7a41486140a97a8570...

[lmm]

> I'm far from a translator... but it is not "We opened a door" but "A door is open to do missions that were not possible before".

You're being overly literal. Omitting the subject is normal in Japanese; translating that to a passive-voiced sentence in English is usually misleading.

[mathrawka]

Yes, but... 新しい扉が開き vs 新しい扉を開き

[lmm]

Again, not a distinction that carries the same nuance that it would in English. The whole animate/inanimate distinction just isn't there in the same way in non-indo-european languages.

[mathrawka]

新しい扉が開き

が makes the subject the door, not JAXA. Plus it would be very uncharacteristic of a Japanese person in that position making such a bold claim. It goes against Japanese society norms.

[atahanacar]

>Opening a new door in many senses (or "in different ways" if you want to take some liberty), from now on, missions that couldn't be done until now will become possible. Isn't it the most important (thing)?

Translation for those wondering.