The Seven Wonders of Exoplanets

The Seven Wonders of Planetary Defense

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 a Proxima Centari. I nostri razzi viaggiano molto più lentamente della luce e quindi, con la tecnologia di oggi, impiegheremmo 135,000 ad arrivare a Proxima 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 Proxima Centauri. Our rockets travel much slower than light and therefore, with today'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 più comuni. Ci sono molti tipi di super-terre, tra cui “grosse” Terre, o “grosse” Veneri o piccoli Nettuni, ma anche pianeti più esotici come “i pianeti oceano”, interamente coperti da oceani in superficie, con molta più acqua di quanta abbiamo sulla Terra. There are no super-Earths around the sun, but they are among the most common exoplanets. There are many types of super-earths, including "large" Earths, or "large" Venus or small Neptunes, but also more exotic planets such as "ocean planets", entirely covered by oceans on the surface, with much 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 loro stella, 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. We think it's due to how they form and their history. For example, we have discovered many "hot Jupiters" that orbit very close to their star, but formed far away and then migrated later.

Dipende da quanto è distante il pianeta dalla stella. Per esempio la terra ci mette circa 365 giorni. Altri pianeti nel sistema solare ci mettono molti anni perché più distanti dal sole. Alcuni esopianeti, mettono meno di un giorno per completare un’orbita intorno alla propria stella, e sono così caldi che le rocce in superficie sono fuse. It depends on how far the planet is from the star. For example, the earth takes about 365 days. Other planets in the solar system take many years because 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 primi esopianeti furono scoperti nel 1992 intorno ad una stella “morta”, da uno scienziato polacco e uno canadese (Wolszczan e Frail). Nel 1995 fu scoperto il primo esopianeta intorno ad una stella simile al nostro sole da due scienziati svizzeri (Mayor e Queloz), che hanno recentemente ricevuto il premio Nobel per questa scoperta. About 5,000, but the number of known planets is growing every day. The first exoplanets were discovered in 1992 around a "dead" star, by a Polish and a Canadian scientist (Wolszczan and Frail). In 1995, the first exoplanet around a star similar to our sun was discovered by two Swiss scientists (Mayor and Queloz), who recently received the Nobel Prize for this discovery.

Il sole è una stella, come quelle che brillano in cielo la notte. Le stelle sono fatte 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 hanno pianeti che orbitano intorno, come fa la Terra col il nostro sole. Li chiamiamo esopianeti. The sun is a star, like those that shine in the sky at night. The stars are made of 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 planets that orbit around them, as the Earth does with our sun. We call them exoplanets.

This episode features Deputy Director General of Institute of Space Astronautical Science, Dr Fujimoto on the international cooperation in space science missions. The interview was recorded in 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

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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?

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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 a Proxima Centari. I nostri razzi viaggiano molto più lentamente della luce e quindi, con la tecnologia di oggi, impiegheremmo 135,000 ad arrivare a Proxima 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 Proxima Centauri. Our rockets travel much slower than light and therefore, with today's technology, it would take us 135,000 to get to Proxima Centauri! We need faster rockets!

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?

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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?

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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/

Are we going to Mars?/人類は火星に行ける？

presented by Jean-Pierre Bibring

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Should human go to Mars?/人類は火星に行くべき？

presented by Jean-Pierre Bibring

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Active volcanoes on Mars?/火星に活火山？

presented by Jean-Pierre Bibring

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Did Martians exist?/火星人は存在したか？

presented by Jean-Pierre Bibring

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Did life exist on Mars?/火星に生命は存在したか？

presented by Jean-Pierre Bibring

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Is there water on Mars?/火星に水はあるのか？

presented by Jean-Pierre Bibring

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why is mars red?/火星はなぜ赤いのか？

 presented by Jean-Pierre Bibring

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Le risque d’impact d’astéroïde est en fait un sujet fascinant. Pas tellement angoissant, puisque pour l’instant nous n’avons aucune menace, mais fascinant, parce qu’il porte sur des objets qui sont absolument excitants pour les scientifiques : ils évoluent dans un environnement qui est très différent de celui de la Terre et qui défie encore notre intuition. On l’a vu avec les missions récentes, la façon dont ils répondent aux actions externes qu’on leur fait subir, que ce soit un impact, que ce soit pour récolter un échantillon, est complètement contre intuitive. On est encore en train d’apprendre à interagir avec eux pour non seulement faire de la science, mais aussi s’en protéger. C’est plein de défis technologiques et scientifiques qui évidemment pour les scientifiques sont des sources d’excitation extraordinaires. The risk of an asteroid's impact is actually a fascinating subject. Not that much 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 they react to external actions that are applied to them, for instance, an impact or a sample collection, is entirely counter-intuitive. We are still in the process of learning how to interact with them, not only to do science but also to protect ourselves from them. This represents a lot of technological and scientific challenges that are extraordinarily exciting for scientists.

Can humans live on Mars?/人類は火星に住むことができるのか？　presented by Bethany L. Ehlmann

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What are the missions of the future?/将来のミッションはどのようなものか？　presented by Bethany L. Ehlmann

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How are we exploring Mars?/どうやって火星を探査するのか？ presented by Bethany L. Ehlmann

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Is there water on Mars now?/今の火星に水はあるのか？ presented by Bethany L. Ehlmann

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Is there life on Mars?/火星に生命はあるのか？　presented by Bethany L. Ehlmann

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 Is or was Mars like Earth?/火星は地球に似ているのか、あるいは似ていたのか？ 　presented by Bethany L. Ehlmann

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Is Mars a planet like Earth?/火星は地球のような惑星なのか？　presented by Bethany L. Ehlmann

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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/

Did you know that the Moon is made from the Earth?

Have you ever wondered how the Moon was formed?

Comme tous les sujets qui portent sur une menace, la communication est extrêmement importante. On peut dire très vite n’importe quoi et il faut faire attention à ce que le public comprenne ce que l’on dit et puisse comprendre si la menace est réelle ou pas. Tout ça n’est pas facile, donc nous nous entrainons à communiquer avec le public cette notion de risque d’impact d’astéroïde et à être transparent, puisqu’on a besoin des amateurs pour suivre les objets dont les premiers calculs nous donnent une probabilité d’impact élevée. C’est très important de pouvoir en même temps expliquer qu’on a trouvé un objet qui semble dangereux, mais pour autant qui ne l’est pas encore tant qu’on n’a pas vérifié que sa trajectoire croise la Terre. C’est assez complexe, on a vu avec la pandémie [du COVID 19] que les scientifiques se contredisent et le public ne comprend plus rien. C’est ce qu’on cherche à éviter, on cherche à pouvoir communiquer un message cohérent et compréhensible, pour que les gens ne paniquent pas pour n’importe quoi. Similarly to any topic relative to a threat, communication is key. Not only can people say anything, but it is also essential to ensure that the public understands what is said and whether or not the threat is real. This is not easy, so we train ourselves to communicate with the public about the asteroid impact threat itself. We also train ourselves on transparency, as we count on amateur astronomers to follow celestial bodies for which the impact risk would be high according to our preliminary computations. It is imperative that we can explain if we have found an object that is a possible threat but is not yet until we have checked that its trajectory collides with the Earth's. All of this is pretty complex: the COVID-19 pandemic showed that the public is lost when scientists contradict each other. We want to avoid such a situation. Instead, we want to communicate a coherent and understandable message to prevent people from panicking for nothing.

Could humans live on the Moon?

Humans have visited the Moon, but could we build a home there?

Is there water on the Moon? 

Water is key to life on Earth, but is there also water on the Moon?

Why are there a human footprints on the Moon? 

Humans have not visited the Moon for a long time. So why do footprints remain on the Moon's surface?

Why does the Moon have craters? 

Why does the Moon have so many craters, but the Earth does not?

2．Why can we only see one side of the Moon?

No matter when you look, you can only see one side of the Moon from Earth. But why?

1．Why does the Moon shine?

The Moon does not create its own light, so why is it so bright?

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/

JAXA Academy: https://edu.jaxa.jp/contents/english/academy/index.html

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

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 ce problème. 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 le monde ? Tout ça doit se définir sans être improvisé parce que c’est assez complexe. Quelle industrie va faire la sonde qui va dévier l’astéroïde ? La bonne nouvelle, c’est que depuis quelques années, sous l’égide de l’ONU, nous avons des groupes de travail qui essaient de définir une réponse coordonnée avec le volet "prédiction," par des scientifiques, qui communique aux décideurs éventuellement qu’un objet nous arrive dessus ; le volet "agence spatiale," qui peut monter une mission pour dévier un astéroïde ; et même le volet "légal," puisqu’on ne fait pas n’importe quoi dans l’espace, donc tout ça doit être fait sous une forme légale qui est aussi définie. As the risk of asteroid impact concerns the entire planet, it is necessary to have a coordinated international response to it. This is why task forces aiming to give a coordinated response have been established under the supervision of the UN. If an asteroid is threatening the Earth, who will organize the mission? Who will save the planet? Given the complexity of such a response, all of these topics must be defined beforehand, without improvisation. Which company will build the probe to deviate the asteroid? The good news is that, under the supervision of the UN, task forces were created 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" task force organizes a space mission to deviate the asteroid. Even a "legal" task force exists, as there are rules in space, and such an operation has to be done in agreement with the law, which is also defined.

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 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/