Last components of the Japanese laboratory Kibo - hope in Japanese - will be launched into space at the end of the month on mission STS-124
The payloads that will be brought to the space station on the shuttle Discovery during the STS-124 mission have already circled the Earth half of the time - over 20 km on land and sea. Now they are looking forward to a 23-year journey on the space station. The reference is to the Japanese laboratory Kibu, which translates into Hebrew as "hope" ".
STS-124 that will be launched at the end of the month (May 31, 2008) will, as mentioned, take the compressed component of the Japanese space laboratory Kibo - JPM, the diameter of the component is 4.4 meters and the length is 11.2 meters, about the size of a bus. So big it barely fit in Discovery's cargo deck.
The new component will be the second component of the Japanese space laboratory Kibu to be uploaded to the station. The first, the experimental logistics module, was launched in March 2008 on mission STS-123 of the shuttle Endeavour.
The compressed part of his stomach weighs about 14.5 tons. So big that Endeavor's crew had to leave the extended portion of the shuttle's robotic arm stored on the space station for Discovery's crew to retrieve rather than carry it from Earth. There is simply no room for both the laboratory and the sensors. These sensors are usually used to test the shuttle on the first day until it arrives at the space station in order to detect, God forbid, damage to the surface of the shuttle during launch.. Most likely this time the tests will be performed while the shuttle is on the station.
The new component is also so heavy that only the main series of its avionics systems can be installed in the system before launch. The second series was launched on the previous mission, STS-123 so that if needed, it could be installed when the KIBO component was activated.
"Kibu is a piece of art," said shuttle flight director Matt Abbott. "I know that the Japanese space agency had components on STS-123, but this time it is the most important component. This is an amazing system."
"This is going to be a top-class laboratory," says Mark Kelly, Discovery's commander. "It is actually a small spaceship in itself, in the sense that it has an environmental system, an electrical system and a computer system and even its own robotic arm. It is highly capable and I hope that over the years the laboratory will produce amazing discoveries in the fields of chemistry, physics, material sciences, and life sciences. It is a laboratory with potential."
The Kibo Laboratory complex also includes two robotic arms that will also be launched on the STS-124 mission. A third and final mission to complete the integration will contain the external platform for the kibo and allow experiments to be carried out under conditions of exposure to space.
Pictured: Astronaut Akihiko Hoshida, representative of the Japanese Space Agency on the STS-124 mission, trained in a special simulator of the system at the Kennedy Space Center.
This is a big step for the scientific community in Japan and the entire world, because it means that the Japanese will be able to conduct their own experiments," says Akihiko Hoshida, a Japanese astronaut who will install the component using the station's robotic arm and will also be the first to hover outside the laboratory when it opens.
Another innovation in this mission is that the operation of the Kibu laboratory will be done from a control center in Tsukuba, Japan. The Japanese space agency JAXA is expected to take control of Kibo starting on the fifth day of mission STS-124, the day after its installation.
"It will be a big day for Japan," Hoshida said. "The first step will be the installation of the corridor that contains all the links from the NODE 2 component of the station and the compressed component for receiving electricity, data cables, fluid pipes and all these things. Once this is done, we will be able to operate the main computer in the compressed component from our laptops that will be inside the station - And we can start working.
After the main computer is activated, the control center in Tsovka will start giving it commands, and we can transfer control over them. They will be able to continue performing the activation of the other devices in the laboratory.
NASA Space Station Flight Director Annette Hasbrouck is looking forward to this moment. from Jaxa. It was an experiment with a lot of learning for both sides, she said, but also full of satisfaction. In particular, she mentions the professionals in the control rooms of the two agencies who developed a system that would allow smooth work.
The schedule of crew members on the STS-124 mission will be slightly different from those of the participants on the previous shuttle flights to the space station. For example the inspection of Discovery's heat shield will be slightly delayed, on the second day of the mission rather than the first day, but still enough time to diagnose any damages if any were incurred during the launch. This is because the sensor system that is usually found at the end of the shuttle's robotic arm are stored in the space station so that they do not interfere with the Japanese laboratory. The tests are usually done before the shuttle docks at the station. This time it will be possible to perform only limited tests. In addition, the landing will be delayed one day after detaching from the space station to give engineers another day to examine the data before landing.
In addition to Commander Kelly and Hoshida, pilot Ken Hamm and astronauts Karen Nyberg, Ron Garan, Mike Possum and Greg Chaimtoff are also participating in the mission - the latter will replace Garrett Raisman as the station's 17th crew member and remain on it. Reisman will return to his position as a member of the STS-124 crew.
