Junichiro Kawaguchi

Junichiro Kawaguchi is a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Australian National University (ANU), School of Engineering, within the College of Engineering and Computer Cybernetics. Previously, he served as a Senior Fellow at JAXA and held professorial roles at Tohoku University and the University of Tokyo. He is renowned for leading the Hayabusa mission (1996-2011), which achieved the first asteroid sample return from Itokawa, and pioneered the Ikaros solar sail project. His career includes contributions to lunar and Martian missions, and he has advised over 120 graduate students.

Education:

• Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering, Kyoto University (1978)
• PhD in Aerospace Engineering, University of Tokyo (1983)

Research Interests: Focus on spacecraft engineering, asteroid exploration, solar sails, and interplanetary mission design. His work emphasizes innovative propulsion systems, sample return technologies, and low-cost deep-space exploration solutions.

Awards:

• Guinness World Record Award (2011)
• AIAA Space Operations Award (2011)
• IAA Team Achievement Award (2011)
• National Space Foundation Award (2012)
• Von Braun Award (2011)

Advising & Grants: Supervised over 20 PhD and 100 master's students. His grants include funding for Hayabusa-2 advisory work and OKEANOS solar sail missions.

Labs/Teams: Core contributor to JAXA's Hayabusa project team and ANU's aerospace engineering research groups focused on solar sail and CubeSat technologies.