External Kibo Experiments Installed
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By Frank Morring, Jr. and Madhu Unnikrishnan
Astronauts used the robotics arm on Japan's Kibo laboratory module to install three payload packages on the lab's new exposed facility, delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) by the space shuttle Endeavour, completing installation of the outpost's largest research facility.
Robotics operators switched off at the arm controls inside Kibo to install the three packages. The new Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) experiments on Kibo's porch include a new neutron measurement device that will study solar flares and the so-called South Atlantic Anomaly, where the Earth's inner Van Allen radiation belt makes its closest approach to the planet's surface; as well as an exposed particle collector that will capture micro-particles from open space around the ISS.
Also installed was the Monitor of All-Sky X-Ray Image (MAXI) experiment, which is designed to study black holes and neutron stars across the entire sky, says Masaru Matsuoka, JAXA MAXI team leader.
The system is 20 times more sensitive than X-ray imagers currently in use, he says. MAXI will go live about three weeks after installation.
The third package attached outside was a communications system that will allow links between Kibo, Japan's Data Relay Test Satellite and the Mission Control Room at Tsukuba Space Center near Tokyo.
The neutron monitor uses two detectors - a Bonner Ball with a sealed helium gas chamber to measure neutrons in the environment around the ISS, and a newly designed Scintillation Fiber Detector that will measure solar flare effects on Earth between 51 degrees North and 51 deg. S. Lat.
With the new hardware scientists also can collect data on the South Atlantic Anomaly, a relatively low-altitude region of space radiation above and east of South America, according to Tateo Goka, senior researcher in JAXA's space environment group.
"This is the first solar neutron measurement system in the ISS orbit," he says.
The experiments are scheduled to run for three years before retrieval, but this could pose a challenge after the shuttle fleet is retired.
JAXA has not elaborated on how it will return the samples to Earth, but the agency is exploring thermal protection for the HTV vehicle, now designed to burn up on re-entry, says Shigeki Kamigaichi, program manager for JAXA's human space systems directorate.
Photo of Astronaut Tim Kopra preparing the berthing mechanisms on the Kibo laboratory and the Japanese Exposed Facility: NASA
