About RISE project

(1st, August, 2019) We restarted a project with a new official name, RISE Project, in April 2019. We have obtained important results such as clarifying the lunar gravity field in the far side and creating the global lunar topographic map including the polar region in SELENE (Kaguya) through development and operation of radio sources for VLBI and laser altimeter. In Japanese asteroid explorer, Hayabusa2, we are taking in charge of development and operation of onboard laser altimeter to study internal structure and its evolution of the asteroid Ryugu.

Our goal is to elucidate the origin and the evolution of the solar system bodies by studying their interior. We, therefore, intend to develop our research further by promoting exploration of not only the Moon but also the other solar system bodies such as Mercury, Mars, Jovian system, and asteroids.

On the basis of geodesy, we carry out lunar and planetary explorations along with researchers of JAXA, Japanese institutions, and those overseas. It is our mission. Simultaneously we promote cooperation with researchers in the planetary science, the solar system astronomer, and the extra-solar planets in National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and other institutions related to their researches. In addition, we intend to continue the effort of explaining the scientific results obtained by our study to the public.