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Sugita Lab
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A lab that explores the origin of the Solar System by developing space probes and measurement instruments.
AboutAbout the lab
How did the Solar System come to look as it does today?
The Sugita Lab uses planetary exploration as a clue to study how the Solar System came to take its present form.
The lab has worked on developing and operating the camera on Hayabusa2 and analyzing its data, investigating the history of the asteroid Ryugu.
The lab is also developing measurement instruments to be carried on spacecraft for future missions to the Moon and Mars.
Together with the Kasahara Lab and others, it conducts research as the Planetary Exploration Research Group in Faculty of Science Building 1.
Key terms
- Comparative Planetology
- The field that compares how Earth and nearby planets differ, and why, in order to understand how Earth came to be
- LIBS
- Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy: a method that turns a sample into plasma with a strong laser and determines its elemental composition from the emitted light. It can take measurements from several meters away
- Raman spectroscopy
- A method that shines laser light on a sample and identifies minerals and other materials from the change in wavelength of the scattered light
NewsLab news
Paper on experiments for measuring neon in the Martian atmosphere published in Geochemical Journal
Paper by a researcher published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters and elsewhere
Paper on K-Ar dating for Mars exploration published in The Planetary Science Journal
Co-authored paper on the MMX Phobos exploration rover published in Progress in Earth and Planetary Science
A student received the Best Presentation Award from the Japan Society for Planetary Sciences
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to understand how the Solar System and Earth came to be by comparing Earth with nearby planets. Its research covers many stages, from analyzing exploration data and operating exploration missions to developing instruments to be carried on spacecraft.
*Illustrative imageComparative Planetology
The goal is to answer why Earth became a planet rich in water and life. By investigating how nearby planets differ from Earth and why, the lab approaches the essential nature of Earth.
*Illustrative imageEarth's Changes and Life
Through analysis of geological samples and laboratory experiments, the lab infers past changes in Earth's surface environment and their causes. It takes on mysteries of Earth history, such as mass extinctions of life and the co-evolution of life and the atmosphere during global glaciations (snowball Earth).
*Illustrative imagePlanetary Exploration and Instrument Development
The lab analyzes data from the Hayabusa2 camera and develops a Raman spectrometer to be carried on the rover of the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) probe. It is also developing LIBS for lunar surface exploration and, jointly with other research institutions, an instrument to measure neon in the Martian atmosphere.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Sugita Lab are faculty, research fellows, and doctoral and master's students.As of 2026
- ProfessorSeiji SugitaPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorYuichiro ChoPublications ↗
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Ryugu colored desaturated” Original image taken by JAXA/ISAS, processed by Meli thev, image adjusted by Nrco0e / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Comparative Planetology: “Planet size comparisons – Venus, Earth, Mars” wikipedia user Brian0918 / Public domain (cropped)
- Earth's Changes and Life: “Diamictite (metatillite) (Konnarock Formation, Neoproterozoic, ~750 Ma; Rt. 603 roadcut near Konnarock, Virginia, USA) )” James St. John / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Planetary Exploration and Instrument Development: “PIA24208-MarsPerseveranceRover-SuperCam-MastUnit-20210120 (cropped)” NASA/JPL-Caltech / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Takigawa Lab): “Allende meteorite ( )” Steve Jurvetson / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Mikouchi Lab): “Tissint meteorite” Jon Taylor / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Tajika Lab): “Snowball Huronian” Oleg Kuznetsov - 3depix - http://3depix.com/ / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Suzuki Lab): “BlackSmoker” W.R. Normark, Dudley Foster / Public domain (cropped)
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