I went to the JAXA Ochanomizu office to join a press conference for Hayabsa2 on January 8th. JAXA announced that they are going to put off Hayabusa2's touch-down until mid-February and decision about asteroid Rugu's place names.
After the conference, I talked to Dr. Makoto Yoshikawa, who was chosen as "10 persons of 2018" by the science magazine "Nature". I asked him his impression on Nature's 10. He guessed the reason for the choice was based on the success of Hayabusa2. Also, he pointed out about the effect of English press releases. For the Hayabusa2 mission, JAXA is paying a lot of attenton to English press releases. They provide new information in English at almost the same time as Japanese ones.
After the conference, I talked to Dr. Makoto Yoshikawa, who was chosen as "10 persons of 2018" by the science magazine "Nature". I asked him his impression on Nature's 10. He guessed the reason for the choice was based on the success of Hayabusa2. Also, he pointed out about the effect of English press releases. For the Hayabusa2 mission, JAXA is paying a lot of attenton to English press releases. They provide new information in English at almost the same time as Japanese ones.
