Shujiro Sawai

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Shujiro Sawai is a pioneering figure in space robotics and autonomous navigation for small-body exploration, with a career deeply tied to the JAXA’s historic MUSES-C mission—the world’s first sample-return attempt from a near-Earth asteroid. His key research focuses on collision dynamics and visual navigation, specifically addressing the critical challenge of real-time spacecraft control in deep space, where Earth-based commands are rendered impractical by communication delays. Sawai’s major contribution lies in analyzing the collision dynamics of a visual target marker, a deployable device designed to guide an autonomous spacecraft during its final approach to an asteroid. By modeling how these markers impact and settle on low-gravity surfaces, his work provided the foundational physics for robust, vision-based navigation systems. Though his most-cited papers—"Collision dynamics of a visual target marker for small-body exploration" (2007, 8 citations) and its 2006 precursor (4 citations)—have modest citation counts, their impact is profound: they directly enabled the autonomy required for the Hayabusa mission’s successful touchdown and sample collection. Sawai’s research remains a cornerstone for engineers designing future missions to asteroids, comets, and other small bodies, where precision and self-reliance are paramount.