Before the end of April this year (2018), we challenged everyone to imagine what asteroid Ryugu would look like in our “Imagining Ryugu” contest.. From within Japan, 18 institutes and groups became “nodes” that gathered art works, while a further seven countries also participated from overseas.

• "http://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/topics/contest/

In total, we received more than 1,800 pieces of art from within Japan and over 100 from overseas! Each node selected their most outstanding entries to be judged by the Hayabusa2 Project. The total number of nominated pieces was 200 works of art. These were all examined by members of the Hayabusa2 Project who selected the winning entries for each category.

Here we announce these winning nominations.

The contest had three different categories for submissions: “Ryugu look-alike award”, “the most fun submission” and “the most imaginative entry”. In addition, submitted works were divided into six different age categories: below elementary school, lower elementary grades, upper elementary grades, junior high school, high school, university / adults. Below, we display the best entries in each category and age group, and we also announce the overall grand prize winner for each category. For entries from overseas, we also selected the best work from each country.

First, let’s see the overall grand prize winners for each category.
（【 】is the name of the node that nominated the art work）

Grand Prize

★ “Ryugu Look-Alike Award” Grand Prize

Tatsumi Nagata (永田龍己さん) / 6th grade Elementary school students【Akashi Municipal Planetarium】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: The shape of Ryugu is exactly like the actual asteroid. There also seems to be craters and rocks that are abundant as on the true asteroid.

★ “Most Fun Submission” Grand Prize

Naoto Miyazaki (宮崎七乙さん) / lower grade Elementary school students, Osaka Prefecture【YAC】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: The dragon and the many other animals makes this seem an extremely fun Ryugu!

★ “Most Imaginative Entry” Grand Prize

Riko Watanabe (渡部吏子さん) / 3rd year high school students, Fukushima Prefecture【Sekizaki Kaisei Museum, Oita】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: Does the white structure represent smoke from Urashima’s treasure box? (From the Japanese legend where “Ryugu” takes its name.) This is a work to make us anticipate what we will find upon examining Ryugu!

These three pieces are our overall grand prize winners. They are all wonderful works. Next, we present the best entries for each category and age group.

Index

best submission

■ “Ryugu Look-Alike Award”, below elementary school best submission

Yuuki Ono (小野佑季さん) / 5 years old, Oita Prefecture【Sekizaki Kaisei Museum, Oita】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: Although there are rocks rather than craters, this surface looks like the genuine Ryugu. But “Ryugu-ian” people have not been found yet!

[go to Index]

■ “Ryugu Look-Alike Award”, lower elementary school best submission

Kanji Yasuda (安田貫志さん) / 2nd grade elementary school student, Kyoto Prefecture 【Robot Festival】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: It looks like Hayabusa2 will have difficulty finding a place to land. Indeed, this is very troubling!

[go to Index]

■”Ryugu Look-Alike Award”, upper elementary school best submission

Tatsumi Nagata (永田龍己さん) / 6th grade elementary school student,【Akashi Municipal Planetarium】
　　→“Ryugu Look-Alike” Grand Prize

[go to Index]

■ “Ryugu Look-Alike Award”, junior high school best submission

Kaho Hiroi (廣井花帆さん) / junior high school student, Hokkaido【YAC】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: The shape is close to that of a spinning top asteroid type and the regions that are black are exactly like Ryugu!

[go to Index]

■ “Ryugu Look-Alike Award”, high school best submission

Sakauchi Arana (坂内新奈さん) / 3rd grade high school student, Fukushima Prefecture 【Sekizaki Kaisei Museum, Oita】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: This shape is also resembled a spinning top asteroid type. Does the green surface indicate there is plenty of water and organic matter?

[go to Index]

■ “Ryugu Look-Alike Award”, university student / general entry best submission

Tsuyoshi Miyazaki (宮﨑剛さん) / general entry, Chiba 【Kurashiki Science Center】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: The shape and the craters resemble the genuine Ryugu!

[go to Index]

■ “Most Fun Submission”, below elementary school best submission

Yuuri Nishimura (西村悠里さん) / 4 years old (young kindergarten)【Akashi Municipal Planetarium】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: Is everybody playing? It looks very fun!

[go to Index]

■ “Most Fun Submission”, lower elementary school best submission

Naoto Miyazaki (宮崎七乙さん) / lower grade elementary school student, Osaka prefecture【YAC】
　　→“Most Fun Submission” Grand Prize

[go to Index]

■ “Most Fun Submission”, upper elementary school best submission

Misato Okada (岡田美惺さん) / 4th grade elementary school student, Tokyo City【Toshiba Science Museum】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: These “Ryugu-ian” people have leaves and flowers on their heads!

[go to Index]

■ “Most Fun Submission”, junior high school best submission

Syosei Nakajo (中条匠晴さん) / junior high school student, Kanagawa Prefecture 【Sagamihara City Museum】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: The color is similar to the color images taken by MINERVA-II1! It is good that Hayabusa2 has collected the treasure box.

[go to Index]

■ “Most Fun Submission”, high school best submission

Noa Suzuki (鈴木乃愛さん) / 3rd grade high school student, Fukushima Prefecture 【Sekizaki Kaisei Museum, Oita】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: It would be interesting if Ryugu was a turtle like this. But in that case, the name of the turtle would be “Ryugu” (the name of the underwater palace visited by the turtle in the Japanese folktale). Would that be confusing?

[go to Index]

■ “Most Fun Submission”, university student / general entry best submission

Shin-chan (しんちゃん) / general entry 【Toyota Hands-on Museum】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: Here we are landing on Ryugu. Once we arrive, it looks like we can take an outdoor bath while watching the Universe?!

[go to Index]

■ “Most Imaginative Entry”, below elementary school best submission

Shota Nakano (なかのしょうた さん) / 5 years old, UK 【SciNeth】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: Does everyone on Ryugu work in rockets and spaceships? It looks both complex and amazing!

[go to Index]

■ “Most Imaginative Entry”, lower elementary school best submission

Ryojin Otomo (大友亮仁さん) / 2nd grade elementary school student, Oita Prefecture 【Sekizaki Kaisei Museum, Oita】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: The spacecraft and machines are drawn in complex detail. Even though the overall result in fantastical, the individual components are very realistically drawn.

[go to Index]

■ “Most Imaginative Entry”, upper elementary school best submission

Syugo Yanagisawa (柳澤秀伍さん) / 4th grade elementary school student, Tokyo City 【Toshiba Science Museum】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: If there are many things like these, then it will be fun to explore!

[go to Index]

■ “Most Imaginative Entry”, junior high school best submission

Rui Uematsu (植松琉以さん) / 2nd grade junior high school student, Hokkaido 【Sekizaki Kaisei Museum, Oita】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: Is this a futuristic world? We hope it will be this easy to travel to Ryugu.

[go to Index]

■ “Most Imaginative Entry”, high school best submission

Riko Watanabe (渡部吏子さん) / 3rd grade high school student 【Sekizaki Kaisei Museum, Oita】
　　→“Most Imaginative Entry” Grand Prize

[go to Index]

■ “Most Imaginative Entry”, university student / general entry best submission

General entry (unnamed), Aichi Prefecture【DeAgostini】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: Ah, Ryugu might be the key to unravel the mystery of the Universe!

[go to Index]

What did you think of the art works shown so far? None of them are the same! The team members of Hayabusa2 had a hard time to select their favorite entries. All the other submissions were also extremely good

France

■ “Ryugu Look-Alike Award” best submission

Eloïse Hamant / general entry

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: When you look at Ryugu from a certain direction, this is the kind of asteroid you see. With the craters and other structures, we think the atmosphere of the real Ryugu is well captured.

[go to Index]

■ “Most Fun Submission” best entry

Clémence Harel /8 years old

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: Is Ryugu superman? We can also see MASCOT!

[go to Index]

Israel

■ “Ryugu Look-Alike Award” best entry

(Anonymous)

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: Everyone made Ryugu using pieces of aluminum foil! Amongst these, this art work closest resembled the shape of the real Ryugu. But what is the wooden skewer?

[go to Index]

■ “Most Fun Submission” best entry

Shirel Alush from Ra'anana / 15 years old

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: Are the additions in green the aliens? Or are these the Hayabusa2 spacecraft? If these are the spacecraft, we hope we can touchdown properly exactly like this!

[go to Index]

Uganda

■ “Ryugu Look-A-Like Award” best entry

Robert Mugabi / general entry

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: There are big craters, which is similar to the real Ryugu!

[go to Index]

Mexico

■ “Most Imaginative Entry” best submission

(Anonymous)

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: Is this a new type of dragon? It would be very serious if Hayabusa2 was caught by such a creature!

[go to Index]

The submissions from overseas are also very unique and interesting. Thank you to everyone who participated!

To everyone who was selected here, we would like to send a small model of Ryugu from the Hayabusa2 Project. Please wait a short while as we will send these out after the science team have released the shape model of Ryugu.

Effort Award

Although only one person could be selected as a winner for each category, there were many really wonderful submissions. Below, we introduce a few of the entries that showed particularly outstanding effort

● Effort Award

Haruya Ito (伊藤晴哉さん) / 4th grade elementary school student, Yokohama City 【Hamagin Space Science Center】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: This is a masterpiece! The surface is rugged similar to the actual asteroid Ryugu.

[go to Index]

● Effort Award

Yuzu Oba (大場ゆずさん) / preschool student, Tokyo City 【Sci-pia: Science and Humanity Museum for the Future, Okayama】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: This is an inspiring work using clay, paint and origami!

[go to Index]

● Effort Award

Yomi / upper grade elementary school student 【Tama Rokuto Science Center】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: This is an interesting Ryugu with volcanos and flames. The interior is amazingly diamonds!

[go to Index]

● Effort Award

Sei-ichiro Sakuragi (桜木靖一郎さん) / 3rd grade elementary school student 【Chiba Science Museum】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: Ryugu-no-tsukai (oar fish) is skillfully drawn in this artwork!

[go to Index]

● Effort Award

Tomoharu Ida (井田智陽さん) / upper grade elementary school student, Okayama Prefecture 【Saga Prefecture Space and Science Museum ⟨⟨ Yume Ginga science classroom ⟩⟩】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: The asteroid shape and the craters are very similar to the real Ryugu!

[go to Index]

● Effort Award

Sota Horiguchi (堀口創汰さん) / middle school student 【Aizusora】

• [Enlargement]

  Comment: This is an asteroid with plenty of water! Hayabusa2 is currently investigating how much water is actually contained in Ryugu.

[go to Index]

Finally, we would like to thank everyone who entered the “Imagining Ryugu” contest and to all the institutions and groups who became nodes.

Note 1）For judging purpose, a few of the images of the pieces were trimmed.
Note 2）Please confirm with the individual nodes regarding the copyright of the works posted here.

Hayabusa2 project
2018.12.25 (Translated Jan. 23, 2019)