My research interests are the interior structure and the evolution of solid planetary bodies, which I investigate by combining data from planetary exploration missions with geophysical (numerical) modeling. I am an Interdisciplinary Scientist of the BepiColombo mission to Mercury, a Principal Investigator of the Hayabusa2# extended asteroid mission, a Co-Investigator of the MMX mission to the Martian satellites, a Co-Investigator of the JUICE mission to the icy Jovian satellites, a Mission Collaborator of the Dragonfly mission to Titan, and a Science Collaborator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.
Contact
Science Bldg. 8-2-07, Hokkaido University, Kita-10 Nishi-8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0810, Japan
+81-11-706-3225
Information
Hayabusa2's flyby exploration of the asteroid Torifune was successfully completed. Using the LIDAR instrument on Hayabusa2, we achieved the world's first laser ranging during an asteroid flyby. Please see the joint press release issued by JAXA, Hokkaido University, and other institutions of the Hayabusa2 LIDAR team for details.
Our paper titled "Pluto's ocean is capped and insulated by gas hydrates" has been published in Nature Geoscience on May 20th, 2019.
The press release of this work from Hokkaido University can be found here.
This work is selected as one of Research Highlights by the publisher Springer Nature and is reported by many news media. Please read articles below:
PBS NOVA (US), Courthouse News (US), BBC Sky at Night Magazine (UK), Gizmodo (US), Popular Science (US), Chemistry World (UK), Weekendavisen (Denmark), Asia Research News (UK)
