August 16, 2010 updated

Missions are soon expected where a spacecraft will explore multiple asteroids, or many satellites orbit the earth in formation. Complex trajectory design will be required for these missions. This article summarizes a method that uses a generating function effective for trajectory design and provides design examples.

July 12, 2010 updated

There is a view that the Sun is in an abnormal state as evidenced by, for example, the lengthening of its usual 11-year activity cycle. But is this really true? This article considers the relationship between the Sun’s 4.6-billion-year history and the earth environment including the birth of life. Deepening our understanding of solar activity could also contribute to the solution to earth’s environmental problems.

June 24, 2010 updated

Expectations are rising for small satellites and explorers that can be built and launched inexpensively. Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) technology realizes very small devices that can operate without functional deterioration even when miniaturized, and that can add new functions by self-miniaturizing. In the future, it may be possible to build a satellite the size of a mobile phone.

June 10, 2010 updated

Occurring in the farthest observable area of the universe, a gamma-ray burst is an event that shines suddenly and brightly for several milliseconds to several hundred seconds in gamma-ray. The Fermi satellite, an international mission, caught a gamma-ray burst occurring 7.3 billion light years away. This article introduces the latest research to solve the mysteries of gamma-ray bursts.

May 28, 2010 updated

The lunar orbiting satellite SELENE (KAGUYA) discovered a vertical hole on the Moon. This hole proves the existence of an underground lava tube, which is both an important scientific object and the most suitable place for constructing a lunar base. This is because the tube's interior is protected from the impact of micrometeorites and radiation exposure while the temperature is kept constant.

April 5, 2010 updated

Research on comets focusing on carbon dioxide is being conducted by using the infrared astronomical satellite AKARI. The research is helping elucidate the evolutionary process of the primitive solar nebula and the materials that formed protoplanets 4.5 billion years ago. The combination of comets and AKARI has produced a kind of time machine to explore the history of the solar system.