Members

Doctorate in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1982. Doctorate in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1982, and became an assistant professor at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) in 2001. In 2003, he joined the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. He has been a professor at ISAS since 2003. He is a member of the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences, AIAA, IAA, and President of the Japan Rocket Society (2012,13). He has conducted research on high-speed aerodynamics and transportation systems related to spaceflight, and participated in space science project research using his engineering knowledge. He has contributed to the research on space vehicles at ISAS, including rockets, satellites, and space probes. He also considers the ideal form of rockets and space transportation for the next era, and conducts a wide range of research activities through flight experiments of experimental rockets, etc., to create a system that makes transportation to space easier and significantly reduces transportation costs, and to research a reusable transportation system that can fly repeatedly at high frequency. Using the results of re-entry flight research obtained through these space transportation studies, he led the development of the Hayabusa capsule, a mission to return from an asteroid, and successfully returned to Earth and recovered samples. In addition, based on these findings, he actively communicates the future vision of space utilization, such as space travel for the general public and the realization of solar power satellites.