Category: Research

An international conference on exploration and science related to planetary defense was held at the University of Tokyo from 7 to 11 April 2025. Following the Hera Community Meeting (7-8th), the Apophis T-4 Meeting (9-10th) and the RAMSES Community Meeting (11th) were held, where the latest developments in space science were discussed. https://www.hera-apophis-ramses-tokyo.org/en-us/ Participants at the Hera Community Meeting shared an overview of the latest status and operations of Hera and the status and observation results of its payloads following its Mars swing-by operation in March 2025. Additionally, payload updates such as AFC, HyperScout-H, TIRI, Milani CubeSat, and Juventas CubeSat were shared. Dr. Okada reported on the results of TIRI’s observations of Deimos and Mars during the Mars swing-by operation […]

The DART spacecraft revealed that Didymos exhibits a top shape with a bulging equator. The results of numerical simulation using a supercomputer were presented regarding the formation process of the top shape, which can also be seen in the Ryugu explored by Hayabusa2 and the Bennu explored by NASA/OSIRIS-Rex. The results show that such shapes can be formed by avalanches occurring on asteroids. For more details, refer to the article below. ◆ISAS GATE◆ 【Avalanche on an asteroid!? What is the evolution of rubble-pile asteroids? – Avalanches, and the formation of top-shaped asteroids and rubble-pile satellites -】 https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/research-portal/gateway/2022/1125/   Shimaki, Hera JAPAN Nov. 29, 2022   【Avalanche on asteroid!? What is the evolution of rubble-pile asteroids? (Simulation movie) – Avalanches, and […]