Member’s Work Selected as NASA Design Competition Finalist
- NYX Team
- Sep 1
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 16
On August 22, 2025, a design submitted by NYX member Yoru Moriyama (entry name: Ayako Moriyama) was selected and recognised as a finalist in NASA’s mascot design competition for the Artemis II mission.
🌙 Comment by Ayako Moriyama
My love for space began when I was ten years old, after watching 21 Emon, an animated series by Fujiko F. Fujio. Since then, I’ve always dreamed of one day contributing to the field of aerospace design. Yet, for over two decades, my career has been in character design and art direction—far from the space industry I admired from afar.
That’s why this competition felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The design requirements were strict: fabrics and threads had to meet NASA’s flame-retardant standards, the concept had to function in a spacecraft environment, and the entire design had to fit within a tiny 15 cm square. But constraints are what I thrive on. After my university lectures, I would spend my nights researching and sketching, completely immersed and excited every evening.
I kept asking myself—Is this design too bold? Should I choose a softer, gentler light that invites long gazes? What if I enhance visibility by giving the form more rhythm, stripping away excess decoration? The motif is a cloud, but perhaps it should have hands and feet to feel familiar—light as wings, soft and fairy-like.
The mascot MORU is based on the motif of a cloud fairy. I chose this because clouds are free—they belong to no nation, religion, or culture. Ever-shifting, they drift in the sky, embodying independence and freedom. A cloud, one of Earth’s closest natural forms to space, joining hands with humanity and crossing the atmosphere into the cosmos—this miraculous act of transcending boundaries perfectly symbolizes the Artemis mission’s spirit: reaching beyond the familiar, toward the Moon and Mars.
Yet the idea wasn’t born from science alone. One night, my daughter pointed to a cloud glowing in the moonlight and softly said, “I wish I could ride that shining cloud and go to the Moon.”Her words echoed something I once felt as a child. It made me realize that this dream—the desire to reach the Moon—is something universal, a beautiful hope shared by all of humanity.
A cloud, rich with the essence of Earth, shining under the light of the Sun. I wonder—if an extraterrestrial intelligence were to see MORU, would they recognize it as the embodiment of water, the source of life on our home planet? That’s the wish I poured into this design.
Above all, I feel deeply honored to have participated in this design competition alongside space enthusiasts from around the world. I sincerely hope for the success of the Artemis II mission, which inspired so many of us to imagine and create. As a design instructor at Kyoto University of the Arts, I look forward to continuing to explore aerospace-related design and to studying it together with students who share a passion for space.
For further details, please see the official announcement on NASA’s website! ꒰ ˇᴗˇ ꒱