ISAS organizes various kinds of campaigns at various occasions. The following are some of the recent campaign events.

JAXA would like to enhance people’s interest in space and the Earth by holding a "message campaign" in which we invite people to send us messages that will be printed in fine letters on an aluminum plate and placed aboard the Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI".
We will accept messages both from Japan and overseas so that we can bind the feelings and thoughts of everybody in the world into one, and inject it into the orbit of Venus. Through this campaign, we would like to boost the public’s knowledge about Japanese space science research activities in Japan as well as abroad.
With the cooperation of the "International Year of Astronomy 2009 Japan Committee," we would like to carry out the "message campaign" to collect messages to be attached to the Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI."

[Deadline] We need to receive it by December 25, 2009 (Japan Standard Time)
[Individual sender] Through the Internet

"We will deliver your message to the bright star Venus" - AKATSUKI Message Campaign -

Location of plates

Aluminum plate image

Prior to the launch of the lunar-orbiting satellite KAGUYA (SELENE) on September 14, 2007, JAXA organized a campaign named "Wish Upon The Moon" to collect messages to the moon from the public. The campaign drew 410,000 responses from the public and the letters were attached to SELENE's access panel area and adapter truss. KAGUYA entered lunar orbit at an altitude of 100km on October 18, 2007, and is still sending us observation data.

Prior to the launch of the engineering asteroid explorer HAYABUSA (MUSES-C), ISAS and the Planetary Society of Japan jointly organized the "Let's Fly to Meet your Star Prince (Little Prince)" Million Campaign. It aimed to collect names from around the world and inscribe them on the target marker, which would be dropped on the asteroid as a target when HAYABUSA approached the asteroid. The campaign gathered 880,000 names from 149 countries. The names were inscribed on aluminum foil and wrapped around the target marker mounted on the explorer. HAYABUSA was launched by M-V-5 launch vehicle on May 9, 2003, and arrived at the asteroid Itokawa in September 2005.

The inscribed target marker was released and landed safely on Itokawa when HAYABUSA made its first landing on the asteroid on November 20, 2005.

Prior to the launch of Japan's first Mars explorer PLANET-B (NOZOMI) scheduled for July 4, 1998, we organized the "Your Name to Mars" campaign. Miniature handwritten names from 270,000 applicants were heat-branded on 20 aluminum plates and put aboard the satellite.

NOZOMI was launched on July 4, 1998, by M-V-3 launch vehicle, but problems occurred and it was unable to complete its entry into Mars orbit. As a result, NOZOMI became an artificial planet revolving permanently around the sun on an orbit similar to that of Mars.

When a solar observation satellite, SOLAR-A, was to be launched in 1991, ISAS took the opportunity during the previous International Space Year to invite the public to name the satellite. Over 3,000 people participated in the campaign and the nickname YOHKOH (sun beam) was finally selected.