March 23 updated

The Aurora shinning in the night sky is generated by high-speed charged particles entering the earth’s atmosphere. These charged particles originate from the solar wind. This article outlines the latest research and new discoveries regarding solar wind and the earth’s magnetosphere, and introduces a future plan for formation-flight observation by multiple satellites.

(ISAS News: December 2006 issue)

January 24 updated

Inflatable structures, a typical example of which is the Tokyo Dome, have many advantages, such as the provision of a large space, light weight and few mechanical components. These features are also effective and advantageous in space. This article outlines technologies for the three processes - deployment, inflation and curing - required to build the structure and also introduces future applications in space.

(ISAS News: November 2007 issue)

February 9 updated

Lightning is a very common luminous phenomenon to us, but still has many unsolved mysteries. This article outlines the latest observations of and research into lightning, and introduces an observation plan of the solar system’s planetary atmosphere with a space telescope now under planning.

(ISAS News: October 2006 issue)

December 13 updated

The VSOP mission with HALCA achieved a number of remarkable results. The follow-on mission, VSOP-2 by ASTRO-G satellite, was approved as ISAS’s 25th scientific satellite project. With significant improvements in performance, the VSOP-2 will challenge uncharted areas in astronomy.

(ISAS News: September 2006 issue)

November 07 updated

Though digital circuits are dominant today, analog circuits remain important for space systems. The further spread of analog circuitry, however, is hampered by non-standardized design, etc. This article introduces an approach to overcome the situation by establishing an Open-IP scheme to spread analog circuitry utilization and raise their technological level.

(ISAS News: August 2006 issue)

November 20 updated

On July 4, 2005, the projectile released from NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft collided with comet 9P/Tempel 1. This impact event on a comet, which is the first attempt in the world space exploration history, was observed by many ground-based telescopes. The observation results provide us with many clues for understanding the origin and evolution of the Solar System. In this article, I discuss results of our observation and insights obtained from the results.

(ISAS News: July 2006 issue)

July 18 updated

Plasma particles change dynamically in the radiation belts surrounding the Earth. This article introduces the latest research on the mystery of the formation process of the high-energy particles, which sometimes causes satellite anomalies, and a future project to elucidate the mystery using satellites, ground observations, and computer simulation.

(ISAS News: May 2006 issue)

June 30 updated

The asteroid explorer HAYABUSA arrived at the asteroid Itokawa on September 12, 2005, after a flight lasting two years and four months. After arriving at Itokawa, the attempt to estimate the asteroid mass was performed using the orbit of HAYABUSA. This is the world's first attempt to estimate the mass of very small asteroid such as Itokawa by spacecraft. This article introduces the orbit of HAYABUSA around Itokawa and the result of the estimation of the asteroid’s mass conducted while overcoming unforeseen troubles.

(ISAS News: April 2006 issue)

May 29 updated

In the past, the space environment, particularly microgravity, has been used primarily for materials and life sciences. Currently, however, its use for the fundamental science is expanding. This article introduces the current status of fundamental science using microgravity, provides examples of research on dusty plasmas and dynamics near the critical point, and examines its future prospects including international cooperation.

(ISAS News: March 2006 issue)

April 13 updated

On January 22, 2006, we conducted an experiment on mesh-deployment and phased-array antenna. Four satellites deployed the mesh, a valuable method of constructing large-scale structures in space. The experiment was performed as part of a space-engineering education program and most onboard instruments were hand-made by university students.

(ISAS News: February 2006 issue)

April 04 updated

The small scientific satellite REIMEI (formerly called INDEX), designed for auroral observations, was launched from the Baikonur Space Center on August 24, 2005. With their merits of low cost and quick launching, small satellites are expected to play an important role in future space development. In this article, we introduce the REIMEI satellite and ongoing auroral observations.

(ISAS News: January 2006 issue)