University of Aizu Graduate Student Participates in Ground-to-Space Communication Event with Astronaut

　On December 11, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) held a real-time communication event with FURUKAWA Satoshi, an astronaut who is currently on board the International Space Station (ISS), by connecting the ISS and a special studio set up at the Prime Minister's Office.

　Besides MEXT Minister MORIYAMA, Minister TAKAICHI (Minister of State for Space Policy in the Cabinet Office) and astronaut WAKATA, seven graduate students involved in JAXA's SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) project participated in the event. IBUKA Koichiro, our first-year master's student (who developed a platform for visualization of images captured by a multiband camera on SLIM), was one of them, and asked astronaut FURUKAWA questions about the lunar exploration plan. A video recording of the event is publicly available. Please visit the following MEXT webpage, and/or JAXA's YouTube channel for livestreaming of events.

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
"Real-time Ground-to-Space Communication with Astronaut Satoshi FURUKAWA, from the International Space Station (ISS)"

JAXA's YouTube Channel for Event Livestream
"Ground-to-Space Communication with Astronaut Satoshi FURUKAWA, From ISS (VIP call)"

In addition, SLIM is scheduled to make a soft landing at midnight on Saturday, January 20, 2024.
For details, please see the JAXA's press release and special webpage.

The University of Aizu, Aizu Research Center for Space Informatics (ARC-Space)