Q. Could you explain your job, in particular focusing on the activities for ICG?
Commemorative photo with students at the Regional Center in Nigeria. A JAXA Kibo panel was presented as a gift. (Photo by UN Outer Space Affairs)
Exhibition corner at the UN Outer Space Affairs Office. You can see an H-IIA Launch Vehicle mockup in the center. (Photo by UN Outer Space Affairs)
A big goal of my section, the Space Applications Section of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, is to improve people's living quality and to contribute to world peace by utilizing the space science and technology. We have three activities for these goals.
The first activity is an educational program. This is to provide opportunities for younger generations to learn about space science and technology. There are Regional Centres affiliated with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs located in India, Morocco, Nigeria, Mexico, and Brazil. They provide graduate level lectures on space science and technology for nine months. There are various curricula such as Space Science, Satellite Communications, Satellite Meteorology, and Remote Sensing. New curricula for GNSS and Space Law are to be developed. For the second activity, we organize workshops and seminars in the countries which want to know about space science and technology. Experts from a wide variety of fields from all over the world as well as various experts in each country where the workshop or seminar is held exchange views so that they can promote better understanding about space science and technology among the participants. The third activity is an initiative for in-depth activities. We believe that people in developing countries can contribute to world development of space science and technology through the initiatives. We have three initiatives: the Basic Space Science Initiative (BSSI), the Basic Space Technology Initiative (BSTI), and the Human Space Technology Initiative (HSTI).
- Basic Space Science Initiative: BSSI
We conducted the International Heliophysical Year (IHY) from 2007 to 2009 under this initiative. During the period, 14 different kinds of ground-based instrument arrays were distributed to about 1000 locations in the world. Now we have started the International Space Weather Initiative (ISWI). Through the cooperation of people in developing countries, an observation network is being built across the world to observe the condition of the ionosphere as it is affected by solar activities. - Basic Space Technology Initiative: BSTI
We provide technical assistance to developing countries when they want to make satellites but have never made a satellite despite having sufficient technology. We have also started making a worldwide directory of universities, institutes, and companies developing small satellites. - Human Space Technology Initiative: HSTI
This project was launched when I started working at the United Nations with a desire to promote the use of the ISS. We would like to expand the utilization of the ISS all over the world. We hope to contribute to the development of a new science technology using the ISS as well as to benefit the people in the world through human space technology.
In addition, there is an activity for ICG. GNSS has become the basic infrastructure essential to daily life, and the applied technology of GNSS is expected to contribute significantly to sustainable development of the world. In the future, multiple GNSSs will be in operation including not only Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) of the United States, but also GLONASS of Russia, GALILEO of Europe, COMPASS of China, and QZSS of Japan, and these applied technologies will be further developed. The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs is the secretariat of the ICG coordinating a discussion among GNSS provider countries in order to standardize signal specification and format of GNSS data so that people can utilize any of the systems without expensive and complicated receivers.
Q. What is your goal or purpose of life as an astronaut and a United Nations worker respectively? Is there anything you want to appeal to Japan or to the world?
My goal as an astronaut was to work on the front line of space development. I could go to space. I could go to an unknown world and know something new. I was so excited. I could feel that my life was worth living because of these accomplishments. Before I became a worker at the United Nations, my life's goal was just for myself. However, now my goal has changed to think about humanity as a whole. My purpose in life is to think about what I should do to help people all over the world go to space and to work hard to make such dreams come true.
Of course, the Earth is so wonderful, and we have to take good care of the Earth, but I believe that the future will come when humanity will leave the Earth and expand into space. So I think my job is preparation for this future.
