H-II Transfer Vehicle KOUNOTORI (HTV)

SMILES and HREP installed on Kibo's Exposed Facility

SMILES being attached to attachment position No.3 of the EF with the JEMRMS (Image credit: NASA)

Transfer and installation of two scientific payloads, SMILES^*1 and HREP^*2, was carried out on Flight Day 15 (FD15)

First, the HREP was grappled with Kibo's robotic arm (JEMRMS) at 6:21 p.m. September 24. Then, the HREP was removed from the HTV Exposed Pallet (EP) and installed on the EF at attachment position No. 6 (Exposed Facility Unit 6: EFU6) at 8:15 p.m.
Once the installation of the HREP was completed, the JEMRMS moved back to the EP to remove the SMILES. The SMILES was grappled with the JEMRSM at 11:23 p.m. and transferred to attachment position No. 3 (Exposed Facility Unit 3: EFU3) of the EF. Installation of the SMILES was completed at 1:12 a.m. September 25. At 9:26 a.m. September 25, the SMILES was activated with commands sent from the Tsukuba Space Center (TKSC). Initial checkouts of the SMILES began soon after the activations of the SMILES subsystems.

The both scientific payloads are image-capturing / earth observation experiments dedicated to studying our planet Earth, and will monitor the atmospheric environment and or coastal features of the Earth from the ISS.

The unloaded EP will be unberthed from the EF and returned to the HTV Unpressurized Logistics Carrier (ULC) on Flight Day 16 (FD16), September 25.

The next HTV-1 Mission update will be posted on September 26.

*1 Superconducting Submilimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder

*2 Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO) & Remote Atmospheric & Ionospheric Detection System (RAIDS) Experimental Payload

*All times are Japan Standard Time (JST. UTC + 9 hours)