Masaki Fujimoto

Masaki Fujimoto obtained a PhD from University of Tokyo in 1992. He has been working on numerical simulation studies of fundamentally important processes in space plasmas such as magnetic reconnection, shocks in collisionless plasma and plasma mixing via vortices. At the same time, he has been working on analysis of data obtained by spacecraft making in-situ plasma observations such as Geotail, Cluster-II, THEMIS, Cassini and MMS. Around 2005, he started to work on the problem of planetesimal formation, that is, how to form initial building blocks of planets in proto-planetary disks, by applying a numerical scheme used in plasma physics research. After his move to ISAS, he helped coordinating an international collaboration in the analysis of samples returned by Hayabusa. Since then, coupled with his research interest in the origin of the solar and other planetary systems, Masaki Fujimoto’s involvement into the small body exploration program of ISAS has been deepening until today. He also plays roles in BepiColombo and JUICE, because both the ESA-led large-scale planetary missions have JAXA participations.

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