きぼう船外実験プラットフォームの利用

抄録

NASDA is developing the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) named “Kibo” as one of Japanese participation in the program of the International Space Station (ISS) for launch in the breaking of next century. The Exposed Facility of JEM (JEM-EF) is one of most characteristic accommodations in ISS to provide an environment directly exposed to the outer space. JEM-EF is expected to be suitable for experimental missions of a wide variety of field such as earth and space sciences and technological development. In this paper, JEM-EF and its standard payload will be outlined. The interface between JEM-EF and payloads and some significant constraints which must be taken into consideration are also discussed. Four candidate Japanese experiments for the early stage utilization of JEM-EF as well as their selection procedure are introduced.