Experiment

SMILES's Initial Checkouts Began

* Dates and times are given in Japan Standard Time (JST)

The Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES), jointly developed by JAXA and NICT, was installed on Kibo's Exposed Facility (EF) on September 25, 2009. Following the installation, the SMILES team activated the SMILES and began its initial function checkouts.

The SMILES was launched to the ISS on September 11, 2009 aboard the HTV/H-IIB. The SMILES was installed on Kibo's Exposed Facility (EF) at 1:12 a.m. September 25.
Following the installation, initial activation of the SMILES was performed at 9:26 a.m by commands sent from the Tsukuba Space Center (TKSC). Then, a series of initial checkouts of the SMILES began (to confirm if the sensor systems and other equipment of the SMILES work properly and their expected functionalities were achieved).

The SMILES will initiate nominal operations when all the checkout activities were completed (it will be approximately one and a half months later).

Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES)

Principal Investigator (PI) Masato Shioya (Professor of Kyoto University) monitoring the activation of the SMILES from the User Operations Area (UOA)
(Photo credit: JAXA)

*All times are Japan Standard Time (JST)