JAXA Space and Astronautical Science Podcast: Recent Episodes
JAXA
The JAXA Space and Astronautical Science Podcast is a series of entertaining and educational long-form interviews with English-speaking scientists and other essential staff from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. We talk with scientists on the front lines of space exploration regarding planetary science, astrophysics, engineering, robotics, exoplanets, and various research fields. We also take a look at the lives of our guests and get to know them on a personal level. Join us as we explore the research and the lives of those who explore the stars.
Il più vicino è un esopianeta che orbita intorno alla stella Proxima Centauri.La luce, che è la cosa più veloce nell’universo, impiega 4 anni ad arrivare aProxima Centari. I nostri razzi viaggiano molto più lentamente della luce equindi, con la tecnologia di oggi, impiegheremmo 135,000 ad arrivare aProxima Centauri. Abbiamo bisogno di razzi più veloci!The closest is an exoplanet orbiting the star Proxima Centauri. Light,which is the fastest thing in the universe, takes 4 years to reach ProximaCentauri. Our rockets travel much slower than light and therefore, withtoday's technology, it would take us 135,000 to get to Proxima Centauri!We need faster rockets!
Le risque d’impact d’astéroïde est en fait un sujet fascinant. Pas tellementangoissant, puisque pour l’instant nous n’avons aucune menace, maisfascinant, parce qu’il porte sur des objets qui sont absolument excitants pourles scientifiques : ils évoluent dans un environnement qui est très différentde celui de la Terre et qui défie encore notre intuition. On l’a vu avec lesmissions récentes, la façon dont ils répondent aux actions externes qu’on leurfait subir, que ce soit un impact, que ce soit pour récolter un échantillon, estcomplètement contre intuitive. On est encore en train d’apprendre à interagiravec eux pour non seulement faire de la science, mais aussi s’en protéger.C’est plein de défis technologiques et scientifiques qui évidemment pour lesscientifiques sont des sources d’excitation extraordinaires.The risk of an asteroid's impact is actually a fascinating subject. Not thatmuch frightening, as for now we have not detected any threat, but fascinating,as it concerns celestial bodies, which are very exciting for scientists.Asteroids evolve in an environment completely different from the Earth's,which still defies our intuition. We saw on recent missions that the way theyreact to external actions that are applied to them, for instance, an impact ora sample collection, is entirely counter-intuitive. We are still in the processof learning how to interact with them, not only to do science but also toprotect ourselves from them. This represents a lot of technological andscientific challenges that are extraordinarily exciting for scientists.
Comme tous les sujets qui portent sur une menace, la communication estextrêmement importante. On peut dire très vite n’importe quoi et il faut faireattention à ce que le public comprenne ce que l’on dit et puisse comprendresi la menace est réelle ou pas. Tout ça n’est pas facile, donc nous nousentrainons à communiquer avec le public cette notion de risque d’impactd’astéroïde et à être transparent, puisqu’on a besoin des amateurs pour suivreles objets dont les premiers calculs nous donnent une probabilité d’impactélevée. C’est très important de pouvoir en même temps expliquer qu’on atrouvé un objet qui semble dangereux, mais pour autant qui ne l’est pasencore tant qu’on n’a pas vérifié que sa trajectoire croise la Terre. C’est assezcomplexe, on a vu avec la pandémie [du COVID 19] que les scientifiques secontredisent et le public ne comprend plus rien. C’est ce qu’on cherche àéviter, on cherche à pouvoir communiquer un message cohérent etcompréhensible, pour que les gens ne paniquent pas pour n’importe quoi.Similarly to any topic relative to a threat, communication is key. Not onlycan people say anything, but it is also essential to ensure that the publicunderstands what is said and whether or not the threat is real. This is noteasy, so we train ourselves to communicate with the public about the asteroidimpact threat itself. We also train ourselves on transparency, as we count onamateur astronomers to follow celestial bodies for which the impact riskwould be high according to our preliminary computations. It is imperativethat we can explain if we have found an object that is a possible threat but isnot yet until we have checked that its trajectory collides with the Earth's. Allof this is pretty complex: the COVID-19 pandemic showed that the public islost when scientists contradict each other. We want to avoid such a situation.Instead, we want to communicate a coherent and understandable message toprevent people from panicking for nothing.
Le risque d’impact d’astéroïde est un problème qui concerne le monde entier.Pour l’aborder, il faut avoir une réponse internationale coordonnée à ceproblème. C’est pour cela que l’on a mis en place, sous l’égide de l’ONU,des groupes de travail qui s’intéressent à définir une réponse coordonnée.Si un objet nous arrive dessus, qui va monter la mission ? Qui va sauver lemonde ? Tout ça doit se définir sans être improvisé parce que c’est assezcomplexe. Quelle industrie va faire la sonde qui va dévier l’astéroïde ? Labonne nouvelle, c’est que depuis quelques années, sous l’égide de l’ONU,nous avons des groupes de travail qui essaient de définir une réponsecoordonnée avec le volet "prédiction," par des scientifiques, quicommunique aux décideurs éventuellement qu’un objet nous arrive dessus ;le volet "agence spatiale," qui peut monter une mission pour dévier unastéroïde ; et même le volet "légal," puisqu’on ne fait pas n’importe quoidans l’espace, donc tout ça doit être fait sous une forme légale qui est aussidéfinie.As the risk of asteroid impact concerns the entire planet, it is necessary tohave a coordinated international response to it. This is why task forcesaiming to give a coordinated response have been established under thesupervision of the UN. If an asteroid is threatening the Earth, who willorganize the mission? Who will save the planet? Given the complexity ofsuch a response, all of these topics must be defined beforehand, withoutimprovisation. Which company will build the probe to deviate the asteroid?The good news is that, under the supervision of the UN, task forces werecreated a few years ago and aim to give a coordinated response. The"prediction" task force, animated by scientists, communicates to decisionmakers that an asteroid is aiming toward the Earth. The "space agency" taskforce organizes a space mission to deviate the asteroid. Even a "legal" taskforce exists, as there are rules in space, and such an operation has to be donein agreement with the law, which is also defined.
Se protéger de l’impact d’un astéroïde nécessite que l’on puisse faire en sorteque si un objet nous arrive dessus il évite la Terre. Pour ça, il faut définir destechniques qui permettent de dévier la trajectoire d’un astéroïde qui nousarrive dessus. Il y a plusieurs méthodes qui marchent sur le papier, certainessont d’ailleurs très élégantes, mais très complexes à mettre en œuvre. En gros,il y a quand même deux méthodes qui semblent un peu plus raisonnables.L’une, c’est la technique de "l’impacteur cinétique" (ce qui a été fait avec lamission Dart de la NASA, et qui va d’ailleurs être poursuivi avec la missionEra de l’ESA), qui consiste à envoyer un projectile à très haute vitesse surun astéroïde pour taper dedans et le dévier de sa trajectoire. Ça parait simple,ça l’est pas tant, mais on a réussi avec la mission Dart. Une autre techniquepourrait être ce que l’on appelle le "tracteur gravitationnel" : on met unsatellite à proximité de l’astéroïde et avec la masse du satellite, on attirel’astéroïde vers lui et on lui évite sa trajectoire. Ce sont deux méthodes quipourraient, éventuellement, nous aider à nous protéger du risque d’impact,dont l’une a déjà commencé à être testée avec succès.In order to avoid an asteroid impact, it is necessary to make the said asteroidavoid the Earth. To this aim, techniques must be designed to allow thisdeviation. Several theoretical methods are available, including very elegantones, which are also very complex to operate. Two more reasonable methodsare considered nowadays. First, the "kinetic impactor" (already operated byNASA with the Dart mission and planned by ESA with the Era mission)consists of sending a high-speed projectile on the asteroid; the impact willdeviate from its initial trajectory. This is harder than it sounds, but it hasalready been done by the Dart mission. The second technique is the"gravitational attractor," where a satellite is orbited close to the asteroid,and the satellite's mass will pull the asteroid away from its initial trajectory.These two methods could protect the Earth from an asteroid impact, and oneof them has already been successfully experimented with.
Pour se proteger du risque d’impact, comme on dit il vaut « mieux connaitreson ennemi ». Meme si les asteroides sont plutot nos amis, mais comme iciils nous menacent on va les considerer comme un ennemi. Pour le connaitreil faut le caracteriser, c’est-a-dire comprendre quelles sont les proprietesphysiques qui constituent ces objets. Est-ce que ce sont des rochesmonolithiques, des agregats, des aglomerats de roches ? Leur surface est-ellelisse ou s’agit-il plutot de graviers ? En fait, tout cela a des consequences surnos strategies de deviations : si on veut devier un asteroide en le touchant,par exemple via un impact, il faut savoir si l’on a affaire a une eponge ouplutot a une roche tres dure. Cette caracterisation, on ne peut pas la fairedepuis le sol terrestre. Il faut envoyer des missions spatiales qui auront pourbut de les explorer sur place, parce que toutes les donnees dont on a besoinon ne sont pas disponibles depuis la Terre, et c’est ce qui constitue unimmense defi. C’est d’ailleurs de qui offre des aventures spatialesabsolument extraordinaires !To protect ourselves from this impact risk, as it is said, "better know yourenemy." Even if asteroids are usually our friends, as they threaten us, we willrather consider them here as a foe. It is necessary to characterize it tounderstand the physical properties that constitute those objects to know it.Are those rocks monolithic, aggregates or agglomerates? Is their surfacesmooth or instead made of gravel? In fact, that information hasconsequences for our diverting strategies. Suppose we want to deviate anasteroid by hitting it, for example, by impact. In that case, knowing if we facea sponge or a tough rock is necessary. We cannot do this characterizationfrom the ground. It is necessary to send space missions that will explore themon-site because we cannot get that information from Earth, which is preciselywhat makes it a significant challenge. In the end, it also offers extraordinaryspace adventures!
Pour pouvoir se proteger du risque d’impact, il y a d’abord une chose a faire,c’est de decouvrir ces objets et de predire leur arrivee sur Terre. Cela n’estpas simple car ce sont de tous petits objets qui emettent une tres faibleluminosite, donc cela necessite une tres grande couverture du ciel. On le faitdepuis la Terre avec telescopes, et on a rescense la plupart des corps de plusd’un kilometre de diametre qui peuvent nous tomber dessus, mais aucun nenous menacent sur l’ordre du siecle. A present, on essaye de faire l’inventairedes corps plus grand que 140km de diametre, ce qui est le seuil de taille pourune catastrophe a l’echelle d’un pays ou d’une region. On en connait a cejour que 40%. Pour decouvrir les prochains 60%, depuis la Terre il faudraitplusieurs decennies meme avec les plus grands telescopes, c’est donc ungrand defi. En fait, l’idee est de placer un telescope dans l’espace qui pourraen faire l’inventaire en 10 ans et c’est d’ailleurs l’objectif de la NASA avecla mission NEO Surveyor.To protect us from this impact risk, there is first a thing to do: discover thosebodies and predict their arrival on Earth. It is not that easy because they aretiny objects emitting a very weak luminosity, demanding a vast sky covering.We do it from Earth with telescopes, and we have already discovered most ofthe objects more than a kilometer in diameter that could fall on us. Still, noneof them are a threat for this century. Now, we try to make an inventory ofbodies larger than 140km in diameter, which is the threshold size for adisaster of the size of a country or a region. We know so far about 40% ofthem. Discovering the next 60% from Earth would take decades, even byusing the largest telescopes, so it is a consequent challenge. In fact, the ideais to place in space a telescope that can make this inventory within 10 years.This is NASA's objective with their mission NEO Surveyor.
Je suis Patrick Michel, astrophysicien, directeur de recherche CNRS àl’Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur en France.Voici les sept merveilles de la défense planétaire.Le risque d’impact d’asteroide est l’un des moins probables mais il a dehautes consequences. Il a un avantage : c’est le seul que l’on peut predire eteviter avec des moyens raisonnabes et realisables que l’on est en train demettre en oeuvre. L’idee, c’est d’offrir aux futures generations un planrobuste de telle sorte qu’elles n’aient pas a improviser le jour probablementtres lointain ou un asteroide nous arrivera dessus.I'm Patrick Michel, an astrophysicist and director of research at CNRS at theCôte d'Azur observatory in France.These are the seven wonders of planetary defense.The asteroid's risk impact is one of the less likely to happen, but it hassignificant consequences. It has an advantage: it is the only one we canpredict and dodge with reasonable and realistic means we are currentlyimplementing. So the idea is to offer future generations a reliable plan sothey would not have to improvise on the probably very distant day when anasteroid will come to us.
Il più vicino è un esopianeta che orbita intorno alla stella Proxima Centauri.La luce, che è la cosa più veloce nell’universo, impiega 4 anni ad arrivare aProxima Centari. I nostri razzi viaggiano molto più lentamente della luce equindi, con la tecnologia di oggi, impiegheremmo 135,000 ad arrivare aProxima Centauri. Abbiamo bisogno di razzi più veloci!The closest is an exoplanet orbiting the star Proxima Centauri. Light,which is the fastest thing in the universe, takes 4 years to reach ProximaCentauri. Our rockets travel much slower than light and therefore, withtoday's technology, it would take us 135,000 to get to Proxima Centauri!We need faster rockets!
Non esistono super-Terre intorno al sole, ma sono tra gli esopianeti piùcomuni. Ci sono molti tipi di super-terre, tra cui “grosse” Terre, o “grosse”Veneri o piccoli Nettuni, ma anche pianeti più esotici come “i pianetioceano”, interamente coperti da oceani in superficie, con molta più acqua diquanta abbiamo sulla Terra.There are no super-Earths around the sun, but they are among the mostcommon exoplanets. There are many types of super-earths, including "large"Earths, or "large" Venus or small Neptunes, but also more exotic planetssuch as "ocean planets", entirely covered by oceans on the surface, withmuch more water than we have on Earth.
Non lo sappiamo con certezza, e vogliamo scoprirlo nei prossimi anni.Pensiamo sia dovuto a come si formano e alla loro storia. Per esempio,abbiamo scoperto molti “Giovi caldi” che orbitano molto vicino alla lorostella, ma si sono formati lontano e poi sono migrati successivamente.We don't know for sure, and we want to find out in the coming years. Wethink it's due to how they form and their history. For example, we havediscovered many "hot Jupiters" that orbit very close to their star, butformed far away and then migrated later.
Dipende da quanto è distante il pianeta dalla stella. Per esempio la terra cimette circa 365 giorni. Altri pianeti nel sistema solare ci mettono molti anniperché più distanti dal sole.Alcuni esopianeti, mettono meno di un giorno per completare un’orbitaintorno alla propria stella, e sono così caldi che le rocce in superficie sonofuse.It depends on how far the planet is from the star. For example, the earthtakes about 365 days. Other planets in the solar system take many yearsbecause they are further away from the sun.Some exoplanets take less than a day to complete an orbit around their star,and are so hot that the rocks on the surface are melted.
Circa 5000, ma il numero di pianeti conosciuti cresce ogni giorno. I primiesopianeti furono scoperti nel 1992 intorno ad una stella “morta”, da unoscienziato polacco e uno canadese (Wolszczan e Frail). Nel 1995 fu scopertoil primo esopianeta intorno ad una stella simile al nostro sole da duescienziati svizzeri (Mayor e Queloz), che hanno recentemente ricevuto ilpremio Nobel per questa scoperta.About 5,000, but the number of known planets is growing every day. Thefirst exoplanets were discovered in 1992 around a "dead" star, by a Polishand a Canadian scientist (Wolszczan and Frail). In 1995, the firstexoplanet around a star similar to our sun was discovered by two Swissscientists (Mayor and Queloz), who recently received the Nobel Prize forthis discovery.
Il sole è una stella, come quelle che brillano in cielo la notte. Le stelle sonofatte di idrogeno, l’elemento più comune nell’universo e sono caldissime,perché al loro interno l’idrogeno viene bruciato.Negli ultimi vent’anni abbiamo scoperto che quasi tutte le stelle hannopianeti che orbitano intorno, come fa la Terra col il nostro sole. Li chiamiamoesopianeti.The sun is a star, like those that shine in the sky at night. The stars are madeof hydrogen, the most common element in the universe and are very hot,because inside them the hydrogen is burned.In the last twenty years we have discovered that almost all stars have planetsthat orbit around them, as the Earth does with our sun. We call themexoplanets.
This episode features Deputy DirectorGeneral of Institute of Space Astronautical Science, Dr Fujimoto on theinternational cooperation in space science missions. The interview was recordedin August 2023 as a part of JAXA Space Education Center’s internship program.
This episode features NASA’s Planetary Science Division Director, Dr. Lori Glaze! What is her typical day like? What is her message to the Artemis generation? And what is NASA doing next? The interview was recorded in May 2023 in Makuhari, Japan.
1．Asteroids and Meteorites
2．Why Collect Samples from Asteroids
3．Asteroids and Water
4．Asteroids and Gold
5．Star Fossils
6．Asteroids and Dinosaurs
7．DART and beyond
▶movie&script
1．Is Mars a planet like Earth?
2．Is or was Mars like Earth?
3．Is there life on Mars?
4．Is there water on Mars now?
5．How are we exploring Mars?
6．What are the missions of the future?
7．Can humans live on Mars?
▶movie&script
1．Why is mars red?
2．Is there water on Mars?
3．Did life exist on Mars?
4．Did Martians exist?
5．Active volcanoes on Mars?
6．Should human go to Mars?
7．Are we going to Mars?
▶movie
1．Why does the Moon shine?
2．Why can we only see one side of the Moon?
3．Why does the Moon have craters?
4．Why are there footprints on the Moon?
5．Is there water on the Moon?
6．Could humans live on the Moon?
7．Did you know that the Moon is made from the Earth?
▶movie＆script
Former JAXA Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Robotics Engineer Stephane Bonardi on the Objective of Space Robotics, the UZUME Mission and Prospective Solar Sails, Collaboration with External Fields and Robots Helping with Societal Issues, Creating Modular Robots at EPFL and MIT, and Finding Nature in Large Cities.
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Homepage: https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/
Kubota Lab: https://robotics.isas.jaxa.jp/kubota_lab/en/
UZUME Mission: https://www.uzume.exst.jaxa.jp/
M-Blocks Project: https://www.csail.mit.edu/research/m-blocks-modular-robotics
Roombots Project: https://www.epfl.ch/labs/biorob/research/modular/roombots/
An audio version of the short video series The Seven Wonders of the Moon by Associate Professor Elizabeth Tasker. If you would like to learn more about the work Elizabeth Tasker does at JAXA, please view Episode 2 of the JAXA Space and Astronautical Science Podcast.
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Homepage: https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/
To get the full experience of The Seven Wonders of the Moon, you can also view the video series below.
JAXA Seven Wonders Series: https://edu.jaxa.jp/contents/english/7wonder/index.html
Tokyo Headquarters' Human Resources Administration Member Adiwena on International Employee Intake and Administration, Learning and Maintaining Four Languages, Making Money while Getting Healthy, Living with One Name in a Two Name Society, and Bicycle and Motorcycle Journeys.
Article Mentioned About Only Having One Name: https://www.vice.com/en/article/j5xmgp/the-uniquely-indonesian-pains-of-having-only-one-name
JAXA Career Opportunities English Page: https://global.jaxa.jp/about/employ/index.html
JAXA Space Education Center: https://edu.jaxa.jp/en/materialDB/
JAXA Space Exploration Center Associate Senior Engineer Ayumu Tokaji - on the Martian Moons eXploration Mission, Administration and Engineering, Long Commutes, Family Life Around the World, Working as an Actor on Japanese TV, Kabuki, Classical Ballet and Ballroom Dancing.
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Homepage: https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/
MMX (Martian Moons eXploration Mission): https://www.mmx.jaxa.jp/
Young Astronauts Club of Japan: http://www.yac-j.or.jp/english/index.html
Assistant Professor Naoya Ozaki on Space Mission Design, Engineering, DESTINY+ and the Comet Interceptor, Working at Three Space Exploration Agencies, Language Acquisition, Being a New Parent, Asteroids, Flyby Missions and more!
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Homepage: https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/
Research Paper ( Asteroid Flyby Cycler Trajectory Design Using Deep Neural Networks ): https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/1.G006487?journalCode=jgcd (Paper Summary: https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/research-portal/en/gateway/2022/0721/ )
Tantantansa Music Video (Radwimps Parody): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG9XASEAVRE
Python Jupyter Notebook: https://jupyter.org/
Mission Design Script Sample: [Link Forthcoming]
X-ray astronomer Yu Zhou on X-ray Astronomy, Dark Matter Halos, the Warm-hot Intergalactic Medium, Cryogenic Detectors, Questions without Answers, Chandra (NASA), XMM Newton (ESA), Suzaku (JAXA), Litebird, From China to America to Japan, and Primordial Gravitational Waves
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Homepage: https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/
NASA's HEASARC Tools: https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/tools.html
Research Paper ( Spatial Power Spectral Analysis of the Suzaku X-Ray Background ): https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac5966/pdf
Aviation Technology Directorate's Digitial IntegratedTechnology Team Aircraft Lifecycle Innovation Hub Research Scientist Andrea Sansica on the Future of Aircraft Manufacturing, Digital Twins, Machine Learning, Engineering Research Papers, Japanese Food, Making Music, Wind Tunnels, and Fluid Dynamics.
Sparse Identification of Nonlinear Dynamical systems (SINDy) Download for Python - https://github.com/dynamicslab/pysindy
Dr. Steve Brunton's YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/Eigensteve
Director of the Space Education Center, Kate Kitagawa on Methods of Education, the Art of Diplomacy, Japanese History, Writing Books in Japanese and English, Presentations from Zero to the World Stage, and much more.
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Homepage: https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/
MMX (Martian Moons eXploration Mission): https://www.mmx.jaxa.jp/
Kate's First Book (Japanese Only): https://www.shinchosha.co.jp/book/610469/
Kate's Website: https://www.tomokokitagawa.com/world.html
Infrared astronomer Ryan Lau on Ryan Lau - on Infrared Telescopes, the James Webb Space Telescope, the Life Cycle of Stars, Working at NASA, the Merits and Challenges of International Collaborations, Skateboarding, and much more.
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Homepage: https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/
SAOImageDS9: https://sites.google.com/cfa.harvard.edu/saoimageds9
Planetary Scientist Lucie Riu on Hayabusa2, Time in the Clean Room, Working for Two Major Space Agencies, the Mars Express and ExoMars ESA Missions, Overcoming Fear Heading to Japan, and much more.
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Homepage: https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/
Hayabusa2 Asteroid Exploration Mission: https://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/en/
European Space Agency: https://www.esa.int/
Theoretical Astrophysicist Ryuki Hyodo on the Formation of Planets, the Many Ongoing Missions in Space (Hayabusa2, MMX, BepiColombo...), the Journey to JAXA from Japan and Abroad, Life on Other Planets, and much more.
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Homepage: https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/
Hayabusa2 Asteroid Exploration Mission: https://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/en/
MMX (Martian Moons eXploration Mission): https://www.mmx.jaxa.jp/
BepiColombo Mercurity Mission: https://mio.isas.jaxa.jp/en/
Theoretical Astrophysicist and Science Communicator with a Ph.D. from Oxford, Associate Professor Elizabeth Tasker on Exoplanets and Earth-like Planets, the Work of a Theoretical Astrophysicist, the Hayabusa2 and MMX Missions, Living in Hot and Cold Environments and Balancing Public Relations and Research, and much more.
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Homepage: https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/
MMX (Martian Moons eXploration mission): https://www.mmx.jaxa.jp/
Hayabusa2 asteroid exploration mission: https://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/en/
Elizabeth Tasker's Website: elizabethtasker.com
JAXA English Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/jaxa_en
Cosmos Blog: https://cosmos.isas.jaxa.jp/
Former NASA Planetary Scientist, World Traveler, Science Educator, and New Father, Currently Working at JAXA's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), James O'Donoghue on the Upper Atmosphere of Jupiter, the Rings of Saturn, Leaving the Shire to Travel the World, Being a New Father in Japan, the Second Greatest Lightshow in the Solar System, and much more.
James O'Donoghue's Educational Science Animations can be found at https://www.youtube.com/user/jayphys85/videos