ARC-Space was presented with a metal model of Asteroid Ryugu from Ishikawa Factory Corporation and Tamatec Corporation.

On Friday, April 16, 2021, ARC-Space(※1) was presented with a metal model of Asteroid Ryugu by Ishikawa Factory Corporation(※2) and Tamatec Corporation(※3).

The model was made based on the shape data of the asteroid Ryugu (※4), which was created and surveyed by the faculty and students of the University of Aizu. The model is made of machined aluminum and anodized to be jet black, close to the actual color of Ryugu, and weighs about 8 kg.

This donation was made possible by a courtesy visit (※5) to the Governor of Fukushima Prefecture in December of last year by a company in the prefecture and the University of Aizu, which was involved in the Hayabusa2 project.

The donated models are now on display in the lounge on the first floor of the university's administration building.

Please take a look when you visit the university.

• ※1　Ishikawa Factory Corporation
• ※2　Tamatec Corporation
• ※3　ARC-Space
• ※4　A paper on Hayabusa2, in which UoA researchers and students were the lead authors and co-authors, has been published in Science
• ※5　Prof. Demura of the University of Aizu paid a courtesy visit to the Governor of Fukushima Prefecture to report the results of Hayabusa2.

(Publication date: April 23, 2021)