Host: Abstracts of Annual Meeting of the Geochemical Society of Japan
Pages 160-
Tanpopo, a dandelion in Japanese, is a plant species whose seeds with floss are spread by wind. Weproposed this mission to examine possible interplanetary migration of microbes, and organiccompounds at the Exposure Facility of Japan Experimental Module (JEM: KIBO) of the InternationalSpace Station (ISS). The Tanpopo mission consists of six subthemes: Capture of microbes in space(Subtheme 1), exposure of microbes in space (Subtheme 2), analysis of organic compounds ininterplanetary dust (Subtheme 3), exposure of organic compounds in space (Subtheme 4), measurementof space debris at the ISS orbit (Subtheme 5), and evaluation of ultra low-density aerogeldeveloped for the Tanpopo mission (Subtheme 6). Exposure Panels for exposure of microbes andorganic materials and Capture Panels for aerogel were launched on April 2015. The Panels wereplaced on the Exposed Experiment Handrail Attachment Mechanism (ExHAM) in the ISS. The ExHAM withPanels were placed on the Exposure Facility of KIBO (JEM) with the Japanese robotic arms throughthe airlock of KIBO. The trays and panels will be exposed for more than one year and will beretrieved and returned to the ground for the analyses.
