News

27. Nov. 2025
Sae Ogoshi has received the Student Excellence Award at the 69th Conference on Space Science and Technology of JSASS.

M2 Sae Ogoshi has received the Student Excellence Award at the 69th Conference on Space Science and Technology of JSASS, held in Sapporo from 25 to 28th Nov. 2025. Her paper title is “Configuration Study of a Low-Cost Multi-Type Lunar Navigation Satellite System Using Hybrid Navigation” (Sae Ogoshi, Yosuke Kawabata (UT), Kenshiro Oguri (Purdue University), Satoshi Ikari, Ryu Funase, Shinichi Nakasuka (UT)).

01. Nov. 2025
Takato Hatae, Yojiro Yamashiro, Masaki Ito, Kazuya Fukuda, Syunta Oi, and Hideki Takamoto received the First Place at The 9th Mission Idea Contest (MIC9).

Takato Hatae, Yojiro Yamashiro, Masaki Ito, Kazuya Fukuda, Shunta Oi, and Hideki Takamoto, first-year master’s students from ISSL, received the First Place at The 9th Mission Idea Contest (MIC9), held on November 1st, 2025, at Koshiba Hall, the University of Tokyo, Japan. The presented paper was (T. Hatae, Y. Yamashiro, S. Yoshiura (NAOJ), Y. Kono (NAOJ), M. Ito, K. Fukuda, S. Oi, H. Takamoto, S. Ikari, K. Kurahara (Nagoya Univ.), T. Takahashi (Saga Univ.), F. Okamatsu (Nihon Univ.), H. Misawa (Tohoku Univ.), H. Kita (Tohoku Institute of Technology), H. Nakanishi (Ishikawa Prefectural Univ.), K. Yamashita (NAOJ), K. Ichiki (Nagoya Univ.), T. Matsuo (The University of Osaka), “CubeSat Mission Concept for TREED (The REceiver Exploring Dark-ages).” (* No affiliation listed indicates affiliation with the University of Tokyo.) This presentation was based on a proposal from the TREED project at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) and involved the conceptual design of a satellite conducted by first-year master’s students from our laboratory.

30. Oct. 2025
Vinicius Ferreira Nery received the Student Paper Award at IEEE ICSOS 2025.

Vinicius Ferreira Nery, a third-year doctoral student from our laboratory, received the Student Paper Award at the IEEE International Conference on Space Optical Systems and Applications 2025 (ICSOS 2025), held from October 28th to 31th at the Kyoto International Conference Center, Kyoto, Japan. The presented paper was titled “Extending a Hybrid Radio-Optical Communication Simulator for Timing Applications.”.

21. Jul. 2025
Sae Ogoshi has received awards at 35th International Symposium on Space Technology and Science (ISTS).

M2 Sae Ogoshi has received General Chairperson Award, the best award, at the 35th International Symposium on Space Technology and Science (ISTS), held in Tokushima from 12-18 July 2025. The title of the paper is “Estimation of Celestial Elliptical Shape for CubeSat Optical Navigation Using Eccentricity Constraints”.

19. Dec. 2024
6U CubeSat ONGLAISAT was released from ISS and started operation.
The 6U CubeSat ONGLAISAT, jointly developed by our laboratory, the Taiwan Space Agency, ArkEdge Space, and Space BD, was released from the International Space Station on December 9 (JST), successfully acquired telemetry by test radio waves from the satellite on December 10, and is now operational. You can see the scene of the release on the following YouTube JAXA channel. Link

07. November 2024
Kai Nakamura has received the Student Excellence Award at the 68th Conference on Space Science and Technology of JSASS.

M1 Kai Nakamura has received the Student Excellence Award at the 68th Conference on Space Science and Technology of JSASS, held in Himeji from 5 to 8th Nov. 2024. His paper title is “Development of a High-Precision Optical System Control Law Using Extended Source for the Formation Flying Synthetic Aperture Telescope” (Kai Nakamura (UT), Norihide Miyamura (Meisei University), Satoshi Ikari, Shinichi Nakasuka (UT)).

01. April 2024
Associate Professor Satoshi Ikari joins the laboratory.
Associate Professor Satoshi Ikari has joined the laboratory, and the laboratory has been renamed to the Nakasuka-Funase-Ikari Laboratory.

20. October 2023
Toshihiro Suzuki has received Young Researcher Award at the 67th Conference on Space Science and Technology of JSASS.
D1 Toshihiro Suzuki has received Young Researcher Award at the 67th Conference on Space Science and Technology of JSASS, held in Toyama from 17-20 Oct. 2023. His paper title is “Experiments and Verification of Relative Position Measurement Between Formation-Flying Satellites Using Acousto-Optic Devices”.

11. Jun 2023
Charleston Dale Ambatali has received awards at 34th International Symposium on Space Technology and Science (ISTS).
D3 Charleston Dale Ambatali has received General Chairperson Award, the best award, at the 34th International Symposium on Space Technology and Science (ISTS), held in Kurume, Fukuoka from 3-9 Jun 2023. The title of the paper is “Analysis of the Microwave Wireless Power Transfer Efficiency of a Furoshiki Space Solar Power Station in Geostationary Orbit”.

4. November 2022
Masahiro Fujiwara and Yutaro Ito have received awards at the 66th Conference on Space Science and Technology of JSASS.
D3 Masahiro Fujiwara and M1 Yutaro Ito have respectively received Young Researcher Award and Best Poster Award at the 66th Conference on Space Science and Technology of JSASS, held in Kumamoto from 1-4 Nov. 2022. Masahiro’s paper title is “Observability-aware Trajectory Optimization for Small Body Characterization”. Yutaro’s paper title is “Research on SAR Satellites Constellation for Disaster Monitoring Focusing on Revisit Time and Cost Performance”.

25. March 2022
D3 Nobuhiro Funabiki, M1 Yoshinari Gyu and M1 Ryuichi Hirayama have received awards at 33rd International Symposium on Space Technology and Science (ISTS).
D3 Nobuhiro Funabiki, M1 Yoshinari Gyu and M1 Ryuichi Hirayama have respectively received General Chairperson Award, Oita Executive Committee Award and 2nd Place of the Best Poster Award in 33rd International Symposium on Space Technology and Science (ISTS), held online from 28 Feb. to 4 Mar 2022.

19. November 2021
M1 Shingo Nishimoto and M1 Toshihiro Suzuki have received Student Session Award in the 65th Conference on Space Science and Technology of the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Science (JSASS)
M1 Shingo Nishimoto and M1 Toshihiro Suzuki have respectively received Best Poster Award and Outstanding Poster Award in the 65th Conference on Space Science and Technology, held online from 9-11 Nov. 2021. Shingo’s presentation title is “Fault Diagnosis Support for Satellites by Using information Transmission Path Model” (S. Nishimoto, R. Takahashi, S. Nakajima, S. Nakasuka, R. Funase) and Toshihiro’s presentation title is “Relative Position Measurement and Control Method Between Formation Flying Satellites Using Acousto-Optic Deflector”(T. Suzuki, S. Ikari, M. Musha, S. Nakasuka).

13. February 2021
D1 Ryo Suzumoto and M1 Tomotaka Yamamoto have received awards at the 64th Conference on Space Science and Technology of JSASS.
D1 Ryo Suzumoto and M1 Tomotaka Yamamoto have respectively received Young Researcher Award and Outstanding presentation Award in the 64th Conference on Space Science and Technology of the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Science (JSASS), held from 27-30 Oct. 2020. Ryo’s paper title is “Applications of Robust-Optimal Low-Thrust Trajectory Design by Stochastic Differential Dynamic Programming” (Naoya Ozaki, Ryu Funase, Stefano Campagnola).

3. Jun 2019
Prof. Nakasuka recieved a Minister of International Affairs Award in “Radio Waves Day”

Professor Shinichi Nakasuga was selected for the a Minister of International Affairs Award at the 69th “Radio Day and Information Communications Month” Awards Ceremony held once a year organized by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. The award ceremony was held in Tokyo on Monday, June 3, 2019.

21. Feburary 2019
Associate Professor Funase recieved a Research Chief Award (research section)

Associate Professor Ryu Funase recieved Engineering Depertment Chief Award (research section)．This award is given to professors who make a remarkable contribution in the Engineering Department.

26. August 2018
M1 Akifumi Wachi has received Best Student Paper Award (First Prize) in 20th IFAC symposium on Automatic Control in Aerospace (ACA 2016)
M1 Akifumi Wachi has received Best Student Paper Award (First Prize) in 20th IFAC symposium on Automatic Control in Aerospace. His paper title is “Fault-Tolerant Trajecotry Design with Backups for Multiple Targets” (A. Wachi, N. Ozaki, S. Nakasuka). For more detail, see official website of IFAC ACA 2016.

19. January 2017
D2 Naoya Ozaki has received the first prize of Young Researcher Award in the Conference on Space Science and Technology of the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Science (JSASS) in 60th Space Sciences and Technology Conference
D2 Naoya Ozaki has received the first prize of Young Researcher Award in the Conference on Space Science and Technology of the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Science (JSASS) in 60th Space Sciences and Technology Conference. His paper title is “Applications of Robust-Optimal Low-Thrust Trajectory Design by Stochastic Differential Dynamic Programming” (Naoya Ozaki, Ryu Funase, Stefano Campagnola).

08. September 2016
M1 Yuki Koshiro and M2 Kenshiro Oguri have respectively received First Prize of Outstanding Student Presentation Award and Outstanding Student Presentation Award in 60th Space Sciences and Technology Conference.
M1 Yuki Koshiro and M2 Kenshiro Oguri have respectively received First Prize of Outstanding Student Presentation Award and Outstanding Student Presentation Award in 60th Space Sciences and Technology Conference. Yuki’s paper title is “Graph-based Multi-Objective Trajectory Design Method for Ground Track Transfer by Low-Thrust Propulsion” (Y. Koshiro, N. Ozaki, R. Funase, S. Nakasuka) and Kenshiro’s paper title is “Time-Optimal Attitude Control and its Application to Orbital Control of Spinning Solar Sail Driven by Reflectivity Control” (K. Oguri, T. Kudo, R. Funase).

27. May 2016
6U deep space CubeSat “EQUULEUS” was selected as a secondary payload of the first flight of NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS)

6U deep space CubeSat “EQUULEUS”(EQUilibriUm Lunar-Earth point 6U Spacecraft), which our laboratory and JAXA had jointly proposed to NASA, was selected as a secondary payload of the first flight of NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS). The launch is planned in 2018, and the spacecraft will be injected into a lunar flyby trajectory by the launch vehicle. We plan to demonstrate low-energy trajectory control techniques within the Earth-Moon region, and to conduct scientific observations such as imaging Earth’s plasmasphere. For more detail, see this announcement by NASA. Following PROCYON’s successful technology demonstration of 50kg-class spacecraft bus for deep space exploration, we will continue tackling this new mission for our goal; expanding the possibility of nano/micro satellite to deep space.