 |
 |
||
 |
|
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||
 |
From the Executive DirectorIn Japan
March 29, 2006 Today, I visited the Sagimahara campus of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) -- also known as the Institute for Space and Astronautical Sciences (ISAS). With only 300 professional staff, they are conducting a number of important space science missions, including the spectacular Hayabusa mission. Recently, they launched an infrared astronomy satellite named Akari (previously called Astro-F). It was launched into a 700-kilometer (about 400-mile) circular orbit and is expected to begin its science operations soon. They have not yet opened the telescope aperture. The Mu-5 rocket that launched Akari also carried a very small solar sail deployment test package. It appears it did not work completely, but we will need to wait to get a more complete report. Also at ISAS, I attended a briefing on the Selene lunar orbiter mission planned for launch in 2007. Selene will be a lunar polar orbiter with a suite of 15 instruments, plus two subsatellites that will form a radio interferometry experiment to provide a gravity map of the far side of the Moon. We had a fruitful discussion of possible public involvement ideas which would include the participation of The Planetary Society and The Planetary Society of Japan. Until recently, ISAS had been preparing another lunar mission, Lunar A, with penetrators to implant in the Moon's surface. This mission was cancelled after problems emerged in the tests of the penetrators, but technology work on the concept continues with the hope of someday being able to consider the mission again. This is my last report from Japan. Tomorrow, I return for a visit to the science museum, Miraikan, and then fly home. March 28, 2006 Today, I presented a keynote speech at the Planetary Exploration Symposium of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The other keynote was Jun’ichiro Kawaguchi, the project manager of Hayabusa. As a result of this project’s outstanding success, he is becoming a hero in Japan, and he stole the show at the symposium. The major discussion topic at this symposium was how can the Japanese space agency build upon this success? Hayabusa has made scientific discoveries (which will soon be published) about the startling rubble pile which comprises the asteroid Itokawa. But, to me, it is the engineering story that is most exciting -- the rendezvous operations, release of the target marker, landing and attempt at sampling, and now the attempt to come home with or without a sample. (We won't know if Hayabusa captured a sample until it returns.) All for less than $150 million! We discussed several ideas -- more missions to the Moon, more emphasis on comets and asteroids, building upon the sample return capability, or developing a whole new direction. My presentation emphasized opportunities for international cooperation with lunar landers and the development of way-stations (or robotic villages, as Bernard Foing of the European Space Agency likes to call them). The symposium concluded with a panel discussion and audience participation session held at Miraikan -- the National Museum of Engineering, Science and Innovation. The director of the museum is former astronaut Mamoru Mohri, now a member of the Society’s International Council of the Board of Directors. I will visit this museum again on Thursday before heading back to the U.S. The mix of human and robotic exploration is a big topic here, as it is in most space policy discussions. The robotic missions are performing well, but the goal to send humans to explore other worlds still drives us. The repeated question is whether public interest in human exploration drives up the space budget so that more is available for science; or whether the enormous expense of human space flight decreases funds available for science. After the symposium, we made our way across Tokyo to a jazz club where Kai, Emiko was performing with her group. Kai performed her celebratory jazz piece, “Lullaby of Muses,” that she wrote in honor of Hayabusa. During the performance, the club played computer animation of the mission, and Jun Kawaguchi was introduced on stage, showing how popular the Hayabusa mission is here.March 27, 2006 By temperament, I don't blog, but I do report -- and today, 27 March, I am reporting from Japan, where I was invited to present a talk at a special planetary exploration symposium by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (everything I like all rolled up into one ministry!) I started the day with a visit to the Tsukuba Space Center, the principal spacecraft development center for the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) and home to all the human spaceflight activities for Japan. It was humbling to be in the same huge room with hardware Japan has constructed for the International Space Station. Their three space station modules are built and ready to go, just waiting for the long-overdue shuttle ride. The large habitat module is named Kibo, "hope" -- an appropriate name in a program with so much uncertainty. Seeing this impressive hardware ready to launch also makes me anxious. I have long advocated not putting all space station eggs in the shuttle basket, and yet that is precisely what Japan, along with Europe and the U.S., has done. It is not easy to suggest considering a back-up plan that would delay their module's flight even more. I am afraid that all could be lost if they don't have a back-up plan. I hope the shuttle is able to deliver all the modules, but I fear that some combination of increased cost and too much risk could dash that hope. And now, with the U.S. administration canceling science missions and programs to pay for the shuttle, who knows what the true price will be? Today, I also got to see the Selene lunar orbiter in the spacecraft integration and assembly area. This is an ambitious mission with one main orbiter, and two sub-orbiters that is planned for a 2007 launch. Seeing this capable spacecraft makes me wonder if it would be reasonable for the U.S. to delay its lunar orbiter in lieu of canceling other science missions and research, and work more closely with Japan, as well as India and China, who are all planning missions to the Moon in the next few years. Tonight I will have dinner with Planetary Society International Council Member and Adviser Yasunori Matogawa and Planetary Society of Japan Board Member Hitoshi Mizutani. Louis Friedman |
||||||
 |
 |
||||||
[ what is this? ]