From Japan
"I look forward to nurturing the next-generation of space experts, as well as helping ANU initiate a wide range of space-related activities. Australia is a unique country among developed nations when it comes to space. It has ratified the Moon Treaty and will play a leading role when it comes to how we use space resources − a demand that will only increase over coming decades."
Professor Junichiro Kawaguchi has a long and distinguished career in solar system exploration. He was the Project Manager of the Hayabusa Mission from 1996-2010, which involved the first attempt to touch down on a near-Earth asteroid (25143 Itokawa), collect samples and return them to Earth for analysis. The Hayabusa was the first robotic spacecraft designed to make physical contact with a moving asteroid.
The success of the drama-packed mission to Itokawa, including a fuel leak and malfunctioning engines, has seen him immortalised with his own Lego figurine. The mission was also the major plot line of the 2011 film Hayabusa.
Professor Kawaguchi was also engaged in developing several interplanetary spacecraft and two moon exploration satellites, and he served on the Board of Trustees of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).
In Australia Professor Kawaguchi is the inaugural appointment at the Australian National University’s new Research School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.
Photograph courtesy of Tracey Nearmy at The Australian National University.
