Trans. JSASS Space Tech. Japan Vol. 7, No. ists26, pp. Th_15-Th_20, 2009 Preparation Status of Payload Operations for the First Experiment in JEM Takao Wakatsuki, Waka Nishikawa and Ryoji Kobayashi Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japan (Received April 25th, 2008) Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is now preparing the first utilization activities in “KIBO”. JAXA already completed the hardware productions of the first experiment facilities and succeeded their launch to the International Space Station in March 2008. JAXA plans the fluid physics and material science experiments, several lifescience experiments, measurement of the radiation environment in “KIBO”, demonstration of high definition television system, some educational and commercial programs in 2008. Most of the preparation works of making the operational products for the execution of each activity have already done. The setup of the ground operation system in JAXA Tsukuba Space Center for KIBO operation was completed and the end to end communication data flow was validated. The establishment of a JAXA payload flight controller team are also undergoing right now and the general training of the team has completed. Keywords: JEM, Payload Operations, First Experiment 1. Introduction 2. The First Experiment Facilities in “KIBO”. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is now Figure 1 shows the schematic drawing inside the JEM preparing for the first Japanese experiments in “KIBO” the Pressurized Module (JPM). Devices on board JPM can be Japanese Experiment Module. Our first experiment facilities, categorized into two types, system equipments, which are vital Saibo Rack, Ryutai Rack and some support equipments, were to maintain the KIBO facility itself and experiment docked to the International Space Station (ISS) with the JEM equipments. System equipments are required to maintain Logistics Module Pressurized Section (JLP) in March 2008. KIBO’s function or to support astronauts’ activities. Power As the first Japanese utilization activities in the first half of supply, communications, air conditioning, devices cooling 2008, JAXA plans marangoni experiment in space water control or devices with space experiment support (Marangoni Exp), measurement of the radiation environment functions are included. Experiment equipments can perform in JEM (Area PADLES), demonstration of high definition their functions in cooperation with the system equipments television system (HDTV), some educational programs (EPO) stated above. The JPM contains a total of ten experiment and the commercial program. racks equipped with mainly biological and material Currently we are working on the development of specific experiment functions. Five of ten experiment racks are operational products including procedure, constraints, allocated to Japan and we have been developing them from timelines and so on. The development of ground operations 1990s. systems and establishment of a JAXA payload flight controller Two payload racks were selected for the first KIBO team are also undergoing right now. In this report, we show flight with JLP. The names of the first payload racks are the preparation status of hardware, operational materials, Saibo Rack (Fig. 2) and Ryutai Rack (Fig. 3). Saibo and ground operation system and payload flight controller team Ryutai Rack are located at the Aft side in JPM, and lie next to for the first experiment in “KIBO”. each other, shown in Fig. 1. Saibo Rack is a JAXA payload rack to support various kinds of life science experiments, and Ryutai Rack is to support various kinds of materials science & fluid physics experiments. Aft Port Forward Ryutai Rack Starboard JPM1A3 Saibo Rack JPM1A2 Fig. 1. Schematic drawing inside the JPM (View from US module) Copyright© 2009 by the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences and ISTS. All rights reserved. Th_15 Trans. JSASS Space Tech. Japan Vol. 7, No. ists26 (2009) Fig. 2. Saibo Rack Fig. 3. Ryutai Rack Development of these payload racks was completed in Nov. gas to each facility. Following are the overview of each 2006, then they were transferred to Kennedy Space Center facility on the Saibo Rack. (KSC), NASA. In KSC, we conducted the final function tests and packed them for the launch. (1) Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF) CBEF is used for various life science experiments such as Saibo and Ryutai Racks were launched to the ISS by the cultivating cells, plants, and so on. CBEF consists of an Space Shuttle (STS-123) with Japanese astronaut Takao Doi in incubator and control equipment for CBEF control and March 2008. They are installed in JLP and waiting for the communication. The incubator unit consists of a µG docking of JPM that will be launched by the next Shuttle compartment and a 1G compartment. 1G compartment has a (STS-124). They are going to be transferred to JPM from centrifuge that can control gravity from 0.1 to 2.0 G for JLP and used for the experiments after the initial checkout of gravity contrast experiment with the µG compartment. The functions currently scheduled in July 2008. incubator can control temperature, humidity and CO2 concentration for cultivation. Experiment unit are set in Following are the primary experiment apparatus in Saibo containment canister and installed in the CBEF. The and Ryutai Racks. standard canister can receive power through a connector from CBEF and also transfer analog signal and video signal to the ・Saibo Rack CBEF through this connector. Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF) Clean Bench (CB) ・ Temperaure control : 15 deg. C to 40 deg. C ・ Humidity control : 20 % RH to 80 % RH ・Ryutai Rack ・ CO2 concentration : 0 vol % to 10 vol Fluid Physics Experiment Facility (FPEF) Solution Protein Crystal growth Facility (SPCF) (2) Clean Bench (CB) Solution Crystallization Observation Facility (SCOF) CB consists of two compartments; the Disinfection Protein Crystallization Research Facility (PCRF) Chamber (DC) and the Operation Chamber (OC). Air Image Processing Unit (IPU) circulated inside is kept clean by HEPA filters. Crew members operate the experiment materials with gloves from 2.1 Saibo Rack outside to prevent the ambient air from contaminating. CB Saibo Rack consists of two experiment facilities and has a specially designed microscope in the OC. Bright-Field, support equipments. These facilities are CBEF and CB. Phase-Contrast and Fluorescence Microscope modes are all Rack provides resources of power, avionics air and cooling available. Objective lens can be switched among four water that consists of two different temperature range and CO2 magnification levels such as x4, x10, x20, x40. The Th_16 T. WAKATSUKI et al.: Preparation Status of Payload Operations for the First Experiment in JEM microscope image and operation scene in the OC can be monitored on the ground. The microscope X,Y stage, (2) Avionics Air Assembly (AAA) microscope focus and microscope mode (for example, from AAA circulates cooling air (avionics air) through the Phase Contrast to Fluorescence) can be controlled from the experiment facilities and experiment support equipments ground by telemetry command and also fluorescence filter is within the rack. AAA also monitors the collected air with able to be altered from the ground. a smoke sensor to detect any fires that might occur. 2.2 Ryutai Rack (3) Microgravity Measurement Apparatus (MMA) Ryutai Rack consists of three experiment facilities and MMA measures three axis accelerations on orbit. MMA support equipments. These facilities are FPEF, SPCF and will be installed on the baseplate on the surface of the rack’s IPU. Rack provides some resources of power, avionics air front panel or inside the experiment facilities in PCRF and and cooling water and nitrogen/argon gases to each facility. SCOF of Ryutai Rack to measure the microgravity Following are the overview of each facility on the Ryutai environment. The measurement results will be downlinked Rack. to the ground via Ethernet or a high-speed downlink path. (1) Fluid Physics Experiment Facility (FPEF) (4) Utility DC/DC Converter (UDC) FPEF consists of a core section and a mission section. The UDC provides 28 VDC of power to MMA and other user core section includes observation capability, control apparatus. equipment, and systems to support experiments. The mission section, also known as the "experiment cell," can be 3. The First Utilization Activities in “KIBO”. reconfigured according to the purpose of the experiment. As the first Japanese utilization activites, we plan the Marangoni convection research, a fluid physics experiment, is following themes in Increment 17 which is the ISS mission currently planned, and suitable experiment cells were timeframe indicating the period from April to October 2008 developed for that purpose. (Increment is defined according to the soyuz mission, in detail). (2) Solution Protein Crystal growth Facility (SPCF) SPCF consists of SCOF and PCRF. SCOF has a cell ・ Marangoni Experiment in Space (Marangoni Exp) cartridge for growing a crystal in solution. This facility ・ Passive Dosimeter for Lifescience Experiments in Space grows crystals by controlling the temperature and pressure and (Area PADLES) is used to conduct real-time observations. SCOF has an ・ Demonstration of High Definition Television System amplitude-modulation microscope and is equipped with a (HDTV) two-wavelength interface microscope to simultaneously ・ Education Payload Observation (EPO). measure changes in morphology and growth conditions ・ Commercial (Detail is not reported in this paper) (temperature