Senior Staff Scientist
Ph.D.

I graduated from Department of Earth and Planetary Science, the University of Tokyo and have been working at Planetary Exploration Research Center, Chiba Institute of Technology from 2009. My academic background is in planetary science. I have been interested in impact phenomena and their role in the evolution of the solar system. Now my study is focused mainly on development of scientific instruments, especially cameras, for planetary exploration missions. I have been involved in the development of DCAM3, one of the cameras for Hayabusa 2 space craft, which successfully observed the impact experiment making an artificial crater on the asteroid Ryugu. I am currently working as the PI of the two cameras onboard DESTINY+, Japan’s future asteroid flyby mission that will explore the asteroid Phaethon, the parent body of the Geminids meteor shower. I am also a member of the Biopause project, which captures microbes in the stratosphere using a scientific balloon and determines the upper boundary of the biosphere on the Earth.