Experiment

Experiments scheduled for JFY 2009

*JFY: Japanese Fiscal Year

In May 2009, the Exposed Facility (EF) and the Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section (ELM-ES) will be launched to the ISS on the STS-127 (2J/A) Mission and installed on Kibo. These are the final elements of Kibo. The ELM-ES will carry two space observatories, the Space Environment Data Acquisition Equipment-attached Payload (SEDA-AP) and the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI). On orbit, these observatories will be attached to the EF using the JEM Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) and will start observations.

In the summer of 2009, the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) Technical Demonstration Vehicle will be launched from the Tanegashima Space Center. It will carry samples for experiments to be conducted in the Pressurized Module (PM) and the Superconducting Submillimeter-wave Limb Emission Sounder (SMILES), which will be operated on the EF.

In JFY 2009, as the space station crew size expands to six, and the HTV, starts delivering additional supplies and equipment to the ISS, science activities onboard/outboard Kibo will increase. In 2010, the HTV-1 will deliver the KOBAIRO Rack to the ISS, which will add a further research resource onboard Kibo.

For the Kibo First Phase Utilization that starts from JFY 2008 through the middle of JFY 2010, approximately 100 times of sessions on 30 experiments, including scientific experiments, technology developments, commercial uses, and art and educational programs, are planned.