Yoshifumi Saito

My research activities have been related torocket and satellite experiments for the study ofspace plasmas in the ionosphere andmagnetosphere. I have been participated indevelopments of the space-borne instruments forhot plasma and low-energy particle measurements. Based on the obtained data by the rocket andsatellite experiments I have studied elementaryprocesses for transport and acceleration ofcharged particles in the space plasmas and theglobal energetics and electrodynamics of themagnetospheric plasmas.

I am a Principal Investigator of the Plasma Angleenergy and Composition Experiments (PACE) on theKAGUYA(SELENE) satellite that was launched in September2007. PACE completed its ~1.5-year plasma observationaround the Moon in June 2009. I am now enjoying analyzing new lunar plasma data nobody has everobserved. The scientific objectives of PACE are 1) tomeasure the ions sputtered from the lunar surfaceand the lunar atmosphere, 2) to measure the magneticanomaly on the lunar surface using two ESAs and amagnetometer onboard SELENE simultaneouslyas an electron reflectometer, 3) to resolve theMoon - solar wind interaction, 4) to resolvethe Moon - Earth's magnetosphere interaction, and5) to observe the Earth's magnetotail.

I have also been developing Plasma/Particle instrumentsfor Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter(BepiColombo/MMO) that will be launched in October 2018. BepiColombo is a joint mission between European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace ExplorationAgency. I am a Principal Investigator of one of thepayload instruments: MPPE (Mercury Plasma/ParticleExperiment).

I have also been responsible for developing low energy ion analyzers (FPI-DIS) on NASA's MMS spacecraft that was launched in March 2015. I am starting to analyze plasma data newly obtained in the Earth's magnetotail.

Recently, I have started to develop a mass spectrometer for planetary surface materials preparing for the future planetary lander missions.