Yuji Takubo

Under my kindergarten graduation photo, I said I wanted to be an astronaut. Around that same time, I had seen my first shuttle launch pictured in a photo book. I was living in my hometown of Tokyo and I remember looking at images of STS-114, the first shuttle launch in 2005 following a two-year pause after the Columbia explosion. Seeing it go up in the air, I thought, wow, that is really cool. Then I learned there was a Japanese astronaut on board, mission specialist Soichi Noguchi, and I felt instantly inspired. I decided that I wanted to either get on one myself or help build one. For the last 20 years, I’ve been fueled by what I felt in that moment. 

I’m currently a PhD student in Stanford’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. I chose this program for its incredible diversity and versatility. It combines academic approaches from the social sciences – like ethics and business – with computer science that is at the forefront of discovering applications for autonomous technology. I also really resonated with Professor Simone D’Amico’s passion for space. I spoke with him about his work and the field when I was touring colleges and we just clicked. It’s been over two years now, and I know I made the right decision. 

Professor D’Amico is the founder and advisor of the on-campus lab I work in, the Space Rendezvous Lab. We work out of the Durand building, and our mission is to realize distributed space systems (DSS) intelligence. DSS are a flock of spacecraft flying in orbit all together to achieve mission objectives that cannot be achieved by a single spacecraft. For example, one mission we are currently working on is geared toward scientific observation and involves launching a distributed space telescope. Essentially, you decouple the lens and then the sensor, or eye, into two spacecraft. The vacuum of space allows for as much separation as possible, which results in really high-resolution images of objects like the sun. We also pursue engineering objectives like my current research project with Blue Origin, which involves investigating the application of artificial intelligence for a rendezvous and docking on a spacecraft. 

My work in the lab mainly involves software and math, thinking about and designing how to navigate multiple spacecraft in space: around Earth, around the moon, and maybe somewhere even further. That’s maybe 50% of my life. The other 50% of my work is coding. Right now, I’m helping to code a simulator that’s a more realistic version of the physics engine behind the space flight simulator game Kerbal Space Program. It’s essentially like building your own digital twin of space in your computer and letting it run and observing it.

When you’re in a PhD program and you know you’ll be spending years working toward an academic or research goal, it’s really important to your success and overall happiness that you’re surrounded by people who share your passion. For me, that’s doing cool stuff in space. I like that I can call on any of my labmates for a spontaneous whiteboard session to go over math conundrums and they’re game. It’s a really collaborative and supportive environment. 

Being a Japanese student in this lab allows me to experience the differences between American and Japanese approaches to space research. The space industry is flourishing in the U.S. – there’s no Blue Origin or SpaceX equivalent in Japan – and I’ve noticed industry collaboration is really strong here. My lab work is partially funded by Blue Origin, for example. I hope throughout my career I can go back and forth between the two nations’ space communities and eventually build a cooperative space exploration program.

When I’m not working, I’m an unofficial tour guide for my friends from Japan who visit me. I give campus tours almost weekly at this point and I always bring them to Hoover Tower to see the campus from up there. I love to see them take in the view because it gets a wow every time. The sky is always blue and the architecture and campus design are so different from what I’m used to. Although I spend most of my time in the basement of the Durand building, every time I go outside, I’m reminded of just how beautiful Stanford is.