宇宙旅客輸送推進協議会
代表理事
宇宙航空研究開発機構
参与／名誉教授
宇宙科学研究所教授、副所長などを経てＪＡＸＡ参与。ロケットや衛星・探査機などの科学ミッションをはじめとする宇宙科学研究所の飛翔体研究に貢献してきた。また次の時代のロケットや宇宙輸送のあるべき姿を考え、宇宙への輸送コストを大幅に低減するシステムの実現や、高頻度に繰り返して飛行できる再使用型輸送システムの研究などをおこない、再使用ロケットの飛翔運用実験などを通じて幅広い研究活動を行ってきた。これらの宇宙輸送研究で得た帰還飛行の研究成果を生かして、小惑星探査ミッションの「はやぶさ」の再突入カプセル開発を主導し、２０１０年の地球への帰還とサンプルの回収を成功させた。現在は２０４０年の未来における、陸海空に宇宙を含めた交通体系の中で、民間主導で有人輸送の巨大なマーケットを構築するため、一般大衆の宇宙旅行や宇宙空間経由の高速旅客輸送を実現することなど、宇宙利用の将来像について積極的な発信を行っている。
Director
Spaceliner Association Representative
senior advisor for director general / professor emeritus
JAXA
As a professor at ISAS/JAXA, he has been joining and conducting many of research programs for space science and technology such as launch vehicles, new transportation systems, planetary entry and reentry, and so on, since 1980th. Among many achievements, he has been active about reusable space transportation system. Not only doing system studies, but carrying out flight demonstration of reusable winged space vehicle and vertical landing vehicles. Vision for the future vehicles were pursued by him as a studies of space tourism, which stimulates general public by shedding the light toward the future of rocketry. Another highlight is a sample and return mission from asteroids. A returning capsule of the first “Hayabusa” mission was developed and made successful flight for the first time in the world by him and his team. After finishing executive position at ISAS, he is now active for stimulating the commercial sector activities such as promotion and new and huge market development of passenger carrier of space tour and P2P highspeed transport through space flight, as it is done with very frequent and mass-transportation in the civil aviation today.
