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Masatoshi 'Toshi' Hirabayashi bridges planetary science mission technologies with harmonization of planetary science exploration missions. His expertise lies in space operations, particularly in exploring techniques that achieve engineering and science requirements under mission constraints. His engineering targets include orbiter and lander design techniques that enable scientific investigations, with a focus on the origin and evolution of small bodies, moons, and terrestrial bodies, as well as the exploration of planetary volatiles. Hirabayashi has been involved in a series of planetary missions including JAXA/IKAROS (solar sail mission), JAXA/Hayabusa 1 and 2 (small body sample return missions), NASA/OSIRIS-REx (small body sample return mission), and ESA/JAXA/Bepi-Colombo (Mercury orbiter mission). Additionally, he serves as Co-Investigator for NASA/DART (planetary defense mission) and currently leads Hayabusa 2 as the Science Integration Lead. His research accomplishments include having an asteroid named (11471 Toshihirabayashi) in recognition of his contributions to small-body research.
Department of Computer Science: GRE scores are optional for Fall 2026.