Thinking of the Universe on Tanabata | Yuko Takeda, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care
2022.07.12
At an invited lecture for an academic conference, I had the unexpected opportunity to hear about space development. The lecture was given by Kenji Minesugi, a professor in the Department of Space Flight Systems at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, JAXA, who also serves as the Director of the Uchinoura Space Center. This is where the famous Hayabusa probe was launched—the one that collected samples from the Apollo-group asteroid Itokawa and returned to Earth in 2010. His talk, filled with the passion of a scientist pursuing a single dream, was deeply captivating for the audience. I would like to share a part of it.
As an elementary school student, the young Minesugi—who was apparently a classmate of the academic conference president—admiredSpace Battleship Yamatoand enjoyed stargazing with a telescope as a hobby. After completing the Doctoral Programs in Aeronautics at the University of Tokyo's graduate school, he has been engaged in space science research, repeatedly taking on challenges despite repeated failures.
The first topic he introduced was the construction of the Uchinoura Space Center. When one thinks of rocket launch sites, Tanegashima comes to mind, but it seems few people know the name of this center, located 100 km to its north. I myself had equated rocket launches with the Tanegashima Space Center, and the lecture introduced Uchinoura as "the other" rocket launch site. I also learned for the first time that while the Tanegashima Space Center launches commercial satellites with liquid-fuel rockets, the Uchinoura Space Center launches scientific satellites with solid-fuel rockets.
Funding in our country is far from abundant, and during the construction of Uchinoura, which was called a "remote island on land," it was difficult to secure civil engineering workers. The center was established largely with the support of the local women's association, earning it the title of "the launch site most loved by its community." It seems they recharge their energy with "dareyame" (a local term meaning "fatigue-stopper," or a drink to relieve the day's fatigue), which consists of local sweet potato shochu and the surreal snack of sun-dried fish, bought early in the morning and dried right next to the launch experiments.
The development of solid-fuel rockets conducted there was presented with rare footage of the launches from that time, and despite it being old footage, I couldn't help but feel my heart pound as I prayed for their success. Unlike NASA's grand projects, which were a matter of national prestige, I felt the spirit of a true scientist in his motto: "If you don't have a budget, use your brains!"
The lecture was full of immersive moments that drew spontaneous applause from the audience, such as powerful footage of rocket ground combustion tests, rocket separation filmed from an onboard camera during an actual launch, and the intriguing moment of the Hayabusa2 sampler's activation.
The behind-the-scenes stories about how scientific satellites are named and the covers of their performance calculation reports were also enjoyable. The names of scientific satellites are chosen by vote, and he shared that "Hayabusa" was actually the runner-up. He also mentioned that the radio astronomy satellite "Haruka" was nicknamed "Oburoshiki" (literally "a big cloth wrapper," meaning "an exaggerated story or plan") in the humor category. This was due to its shape and the project manager's declaration that they would "absolutely see this difficult technology through." It has become a tradition to parody cigarette or alcohol labels for the covers of performance calculation reports. The cover for "Hayabusa" mimicked the label of a sake called "Tora no Ko" (Tiger Cub), but with elaborate details: the asteroid Itokawa's name was written where the phone number should be, and the warning label read, "Recovery after 4 years. Please be very careful when opening." The phrase "laughter and humor are essential lubricants for development" was very impressive, conveying a sense of passion and love for space exploration. The analysis of samples brought back from Itokawa and Ryugu is still ongoing. I was reminded that asteroids are fossils of the solar system, holding the key to exploring the roots of the solar system, the Earth, and life itself—a quest to understand where humanity came from and where we are going.
The main theme of the academic meeting was "Renaissance of Hereditary Tumors—A Dream We Continue to Pursue—" and this lecture was truly fitting for an invited talk. I would like to thank President Koji Tanakaya for organizing it.
As the deadline for this manuscript was July 7 (Tanabata), I looked up at the night sky. Although the moon was shining brightly, the stars were hidden by clouds. Nevertheless, it was a moment to let my thoughts drift to the universe for the first time in a while.
Reference: Abstracts of the 28th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Hereditary Tumors (June 2022/Okayama).