A summer pastime for kiddies in Japan is to collect bugs. The shop near me sells Pokéballs for you to put them in! Gotta catch them all!
Elizabeth Tasker
@elizabethtasker.bsky.social
UK astrophysicist and science communicator working at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Author of 'The Planet Factory' and editor of ‘Planetary Diversity’. Very into space, virtual reality, computer graphics and rescue cats.
As I watched #CasperCat launch himself off the top of the cat tree and into thin air, my first thought was [long and redacted] My second was, At least I can tell the vet he is genki (energetic).
New glasses! With progressive (varifocal) lenses because HELLO MID-FORTIES. (If you don’t know what those are, you will one day my sweet summer child.) Also, who knew this is what Tokyo looks like?! Wild. The world tilts if I turn my head sharply. I hear this takes practice.
So. This is… not… the Friday I was planning 🤔 On the plus side, I was home and know which cat. On the negative side, it’s the one I’ve never tried to stuff in a carrier in this apartment. Nobody (including the vet) is going to enjoy this 😐 #CasperCat
I went to lunch with a visitor yesterday, to a spot no more than 10 minutes walk. I wore hat, sunglasses, drank plenty and still ended with a headache and unable to cool back down 🤦🏼♀️This morning, I feel like a puddle and I have to be bushy tailed in front of a poster. Do not underestimate this crap.
The mural at my tennis club reflects the rainy season ☔️. We’re now at the tail-end of the rainy season, where the water pours from us rather than the sky 😅
A man steps outside his house, carrying his toddler child. Child bursts into tears. And that is today’s weather report.
I have been gifted a flask that truly reflects my view of the world.
From communicating with policymakers, combating misinformation, understanding the ethics and best practices for AI, and leveraging technology in your research, join us in Japan or online this November 1 ~ 6 🧪. Early-bird registration until July 24 🐦. Website 🔭: iau-oao.nao.ac.jp/iaus409/
After tennis—which I’ll admit was a bit like playing in a swamp due to the humidity!—a rice bowl packed with sashimi for a treat 🍚
Japan friends, it disappoints me that 私自身 is not read しじしん. It’s logical and much more entertaining to say 😐 (For the curious, it’s read わたしじしん [watashi-ji-shin] and means “personally”, but 私 is often read as “し” in compound kanji and… personally… I think that would be more pleasing 😂)
Visited Jonan Pet Cemetery to renew the memorial plate for #CassieCat. I say this every time, but the pet shrine is wonderful. There’s always offerings from visitors and a gentleman with a bunch of flowers came in as I left, having respectfully given me space. Every time I go, I think good choice!
You know that thing MS Teams sometimes does, when you click the “translate” button and it just removes the entire message and pretends the person said nothing and its job is done? Not a fan.
OK, so Hayabusa2 powers between asteroids using ion engines (a JAXA speciality) 🔭, but MMX is going to be using more traditional chemical propulsion 🛰️. In our #MMXTeamQQ, Imade Takane highlights why we made that choice 🧪.
The English press release with the first images of asteroid Torifune captured by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft is now live! (I translated, the ISAS PR lead checked it while practically running from the press conference, and someone at JAXA HQ stayed late enough to upload 😆 HIGH-FIVES ALL AROUND!)
JAXA | Hayabusa2 captures images of asteroid Torifune
Get information on the Hayabusa2 captures images of asteroid Torifune. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) performs various activities related to aerospace as an organization, from basic res...
global.jaxa.jp
The presentation will be in Japanese, but there's a JAXA press conference at 16:00 JST (~30 minutes) on the flyby of Torifune by Hayabusa2. SHOW US A SPACE ROCK! And let's hug a 12 year old spacecraft that just pulled off a tight flyby it was never designed to do. Maybe we can save the world 🛰️👀🪨.
小惑星探査機「はやぶさ２」による小惑星「トリフネ」フライバイ後記者説明会
YouTube video by JAXA | 宇宙航空研究開発機構
youtube.com
The Hayabusa2 Torifune flyby web app by Otsuka Minoru has been updated so you can see exactly what an 800m distance (from the asteroid centre) would have looked like! space = start 0, 9 = change asteroid orientation L = loop on/off
大塚実(Minoru OTSUKA)@ots-min.bsky.social · last mo.そういえば800mフライバイのWEBアプリはまだ公開していなかったので、さきほどアップしました。これはもともと、私が動画作成用に用意したものなのでUIは無くて、キーボードで操作するようになっています。 スペース…開始 0キー…小惑星の向き0° 9キー…小惑星の向き90° Lキー…ループOn/Off o-tsuka.net/haya2flyby80...
Mimasu Yuya looks like he may need to sleep until we reach 1998 KY26 in 2031. If we make it (and will really stretch an old spacecraft), the second target for the Hayabusa2♯ Extended Mission is a rendezvous with a small, rapidly spinning asteroid; a type never previously visited.
The team just ended the live stream saying 'FLY BYE BYE!". These people are geeks. And they're my people.
In the centre here is the JAXA ISAS Director General Fujimoto Masaki, clearly congratulating the team. In front of him in a white jacket is Tsuda Yuichi, former Hayabusa2 Project Manager and now Deputy Director General of JAXA ISAS.
At the front in the bright blue jacket—beaming like a lantern—is Mimasu Yuya, team leader for the Hayabusa2♯ Extended Mission. He's holding a Japanese Daruma doll. One eye is painted when you make a wish, and the second is coloured when that wish comes true. I think this doll is about to get 2 eyes!
And that's a wrap! Unlike the NASA DART mission, Hayabusa2 was never designed for flyby (or impact) observations, so I think we now have to wait until the spacecraft can be rotated to allow the high gain antenna to transmit images to the Earth. My guess is we might see something tomorrow... 🤞
Less than 30 minutes left to flyby time!! Hayabusa2 is less than 1000 km away from asteroid Torifune. 🙀
大塚実(Minoru OTSUKA)@ots-min.bsky.social · last mo.あと30分を切った！緊張してきました～
My documents are in an (almost) appropriate file! Hit by a massive solar flare, the first Hayabusa never had a chance for an extended mission. The spacecraft was so damaged when it returned to Earth that the team could only rotate its cameras to see home before it burned up in our atmosphere.
My driving license expired this year when we’re launching the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission 🚀. My new license expires when MMX returns to Earth with a sample from Phobos 🛰️🌏. As we tend to do both in quite remote places, I should continue to stay on top of this 😂