Crash Tests at JARI this Weekend
This information is from Sven.
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The Japan Automobile Research Institute (JARI) will have its open days this Friday and Saturday. On both days there will be two full scale car crash tests (lots of damage), two sled tests (cute baby dummies in a child seat), and two leg impactor tests (a cheap car-shaped-object hitting an expensive and squishy leg-shaped-object). There's also a bunch of other exhibitions showcasing various car-related research done in JARI (driving simulators, electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, etc), including things to keep kids amused.
The child seat sled tests are at 10.15am and 1pm each day. A full schedule of the full scale car crashes are as follows:
FRIDAY:
10.30am - Car [50km/hr] vs. Rigid Wall [0km/hr] Crash Test
2.30pm - Car [30km/hr] vs. Bicycle (with dummy rider) [15km/hr] Crash Test
SATURDAY:
10.30am - Car [30km/hr] vs. Bicycle (with dummy rider) [15km/hr] Crash Test
2.30pm - Car [50km/hr] vs. Rigid Wall [0km/hr] Crash Test
In order to see the test, please arrive at the times given above, as the tests begin shortly afterwards. After the tests you can inspect the damage and view the tests in slow-motion on the high-speed video
cameras.
JARI is located along Tsuchiura Gakuen road, about 2km west of Tsukuba Center. There is also an entrance from Kenkyuu Gakuen Station on the Tsukuba express line. (map)
More instructions (in Japanese) on the JARI website.
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Desmostylus Exhibit in Tsukuba
Desmostylus is an extinct herbivorous mammal that resembled a hippopotamus. In 1977, Japanese researchers found a nearly complete fossilized skeleton of Desmostylus in a town called Utanobori (now Esashi) in Hokkaido. The reconstructed Utanobori specimen will be on exhibit from September 26 to December 2 (closed on September 29 and October 7) at the Geological Museum at AIST.
There will also be a free lecture about Desmostylus on October 14 from 1:30pm to 2:30pm at the museum.
See also:
- On the excavation and restoration of Desmostylus from Utanobori, Hokkaido (pdf, paper published in the Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Japan, in Japanese but with some interesting pictures)
- デスモスチルス歌登標本
- Old AIST site
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ESA and JAXA Satellites ‘Talk’ to Each Other
From the European Space Agency
ESA’s Envisat satellite and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) data relay test satellite Kodama have successfully completed an interoperability test demonstrating that scientific data from Envisat can be transmitted to Kodama and from there transmitted to the Japanese ground receiving station in Tsukuba.
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Hydrogen Vehicle in Tsukuba
Mazda Motor Corporation today announced that it has delivered one dual-fueled RX-8 Hydrogen RE vehicle, which runs on either gasoline or hydrogen, to the Japan Automobile Research Institute.
[...]
JARI is working with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization on the Establishment of Codes & Standards for a Hydrogen Economy Society project. The RX-8 Hydrogen RE will be used as part of its R&D activities to review the regulations regarding the safety of hydrogen vehicles, establish examination and evaluation techniques and create proposals for international standards. The hydrogen supply will mainly come from JARI’s own hydrogen station at their facility in Tsukuba city.
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Ideas about Improving Tsukuba
I am a member of the International Relations Subcommittee of the Tsukuba Science City Network. The committee exists to promote international exchange in Tsukuba, especially as it pertains to science and technology, and it includes various people from research and educational institutes around Tsukuba and representatives of the city and prefectural governments.
The committee has just completed one project and is looking for suggestions about where to focus its energy next. If you have any ideas about how to improve international relations in Tsukuba, please feel free to get in touch with me. Your ideas could include:
- ways to make Tsukuba a more international city
- ways to make Tsukuba more appealing to foreign researchers who are invited here
- ways to make it easier to live in Tsukuba
- ways to increase the profile of Tsukuba in the world
Feel free to "think big" and brainstorm, as well as coming up with ideas that just need a little bit of work to implement. Your ideas can be in point form, or you can write out a full proposal -- anything is fine. I cannot promise that your ideas will be implemented, but I will promise to pass your thoughts on to the committee so they can get an idea of Tsukuba looks like from our perspective and how we might like to improve things.
I am not sure yet when the next committee meeting will be held, but it will probably be in about one month or so. If you come up with any ideas in the meantime, please feel get in touch with me (through TsukuBlog).
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