Professor Ryu Funase

Dr. Funase obtained his Ph.D. from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, The University of Tokyo, in 2007. After 5 years of research and development for deep space exploration spacecraft in JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), he has been an associate professor at the University of Tokyo since 2012. Since 2019, he has also worked as a professor for JAXA/ISAS (Institute for Space and Astronautical Science).

He has been a pioneer in deep space exploration by small satellites. As project manager, he successfully launched PROCYON, the world's first 50kg-class deep space probe in 2014, and EQUULEUS, a much smaller 6U CubeSat onboard NASA Artemis-1 in 2022.

ISAS/JAXA
the University of Tokyo