亀田 真吾

Abstract NASA's OSIRIS‐REx mission successfully collected and returned ~121.6 g of bulk samples from the B‐type, near‐Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu to Earth in September 2023. Upon returning to Earth, the samples were transported to the NASA Johnson Space Center where most of the samples have been stored and processed. On August 22, 2024, 0.5 wt% of Bennu samples (0.663 g) and a contact pad that collected particles from the surface of Bennu were permanently transferred to JAXA from NASA based on a Memorandum of Understanding and a letter of agreement between the two agencies. Following this, all the Bennu samples have been curated under nitrogen‐purged gloveboxes, called clean chambers in a clean room at the Extraterrestrial Sample Curation Center in Sagamihara. While maintaining the pristinity of samples at the curation, we conduct a series of nondestructive analyses, including near‐infrared spectroscopy within the clean chambers. Bennu curation was conceptualized primarily based on the Hayabusa2 curation, whereas lessons learned from the Hayabusa2 curation were integrated into designing Bennu curation. Here, we describe preparations for the Bennu curation, with an emphasis on the differences from the Hayabusa2 curation.

Abstract MIRS (MMX InfraRed Spectrometer) is a push-broom imaging spectrometer onboard of the JAXA sample return MMX mission. It has been built by the French laboratory LESIA, today LIRA (Laboratory for Instrumentation and Research in Astrophysics) of Paris Observatory-PSL in collaboration with five other French laboratories, collaboration and financial support of CNES and close collaboration with JAXA and MELCO. MIRS, designed to accomplish the MMX scientific objectives, has been built to be adapted on MMX Exploration Module. MIRS will remotely observe the Martian system for three years. MIRS will observe Phobos, Deimos and Mars in the spectral range 0.9–3.6 µm to characterize surface composition of the satellites and investigate Martian atmospheric variations. An overview of the MIRS Flight Model is presented as well as the data processing and the expected results.

Remote sensing with ultraviolet wavelength (UV) are one of powerful probes to uncover dynamic behaviors of the planetary environment. The Hisaki satellite was an earth orbiting extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectroscope dedicated for observing solar system planets. Thanks to its long-term monitoring capability, Hisaki had carried out unprecedented continuous observation of Io plasma torus, Jovian aurora, and Mars and Venus upper atmospheres from 2013 to 2023. One of notable phenomena observed by Hisaki is significant enhancements of neutral gas from presumed activation of volcanic activity on Io. Hisaki revealed, for the first time, that not only the plasma source, but transport, heating, and loss processes of magnetospheric plasma were influenced by the variation in the neutral source input.After the end of the Hisaki mission, we have proposed the next UV space telescope, LAPYUTA (Life-environmentology, Astronomy, and PlanetarY Ultraviolet Telescope Assembly). One of goals of this mission is dynamics of our solar system planets and moons as the most quantifiable archetypes of extraterrestrial habitable environments in the universe. LAPYUTA will not only provide a UV monitoring platform like Hisaki but also have a high spatial resolution and high sensitivity to uncover stability of Io’s atmosphere, water plumes that gushes from the subsurface ocean of icy moons, and spatio-temporal aspects of Jupiter's giant UV aurora. Primary goal of the LAPYUTA mission other than the Jovian system includes atmospheric evolution of Venus and Mars, characterization of exoplanet atmosphere, galaxy formation, and time-domain astronomy.