Hello From AOBAYAMA | School of Engineering, Tohoku University

For the Celts, the most feared thing was that the sky would fall on their heads. Since then, the dreaded unknown has been tamed and space has caught the imagination of people. Nowadays, space exploration has moved imagination to the next level and our society has embarked upon the ultimate stage: the exploitation of space resources. With this in mind and for more than 90 years, the School of Engineering (SoE) of Tohoku University has successfully endeavored to develop space technologies. The innovation and creativity of SoE have since spread all over the world and drawn the attraction of the key players in the space sector. The United State National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), European Space Agency (ESA) and private companies are now actively collaborating with SoE on the development of new technologies that have been greatly beneficial to space exploration and will continue to make a difference for the exploitation of its resources. In addition, SoE is engaged in a wide range of research activities, which encompass and bring together aerospace, robotics, mechanical, materials, energy and electrical engineering. SoE is at the forefront in meeting the challenges in this field. Throughout its history, space engineering at SoE has always been greatly served by leading professors, such as Professor Yoshida, who is conducting research on space robotics in the Department of Aerospace Engineering. Please see what he has to say in a special issue of “Driving Force” at SoE homepage. Three other luminaries, Professor Ando from the Department of Electrical Engineering, and Professor Asai and Associate Professor Makihara from the Department of Aerospace Engineering, have also been invited to launch the first issue of the SoE periodical Tohoku University Research News of Engineering “Tune” with a focus on space engineering.