地上に住む人類にとって微小重力環境は長い間無縁の存在であった.しかし,ロケット技術の発達によって,長時間継続しての微小重力環境利用が可能になった.こうして,微小重力環境を利用したライフサイエンス実験や材料実験の幕開けを迎えた.我国でも先頃行われた宇宙実験「ふわっと'92」を始め実験計画が目白押であり,将来は宇宙基地への参加も予定されている.ここでは微小重力環境がどのようなものであるかを説明し,その特徴について述べる.さらに,微小重力環境を利用した材料製造のメリット,デメリットについて,特に結晶成長に的を絞って,具体例をあげながら説明する.最後に日本の微小重力利用実験計画の現状と将来展望に触れる.

抄録全体を表示

宇宙開発が進むにつれて,無重力環境の利用が現実のものとなりつつある.本稿では,まず無重力環境をいかに作るかにつき述べ,次に無重力下で何が変わるかを議論する.最後に,無重力の利用として何があるか,その例としてアメリカ,ヨーロッパの宇宙実験結果を紹介する.

抄録全体を表示

JAXA has been conducting various space experiments aiming application for industries productions onboard ISS. Several Spin-off technologies have been created by researchers and engineers concerned space experiments projects, such as protein crystalization, 2Dimensional Nanotemplate, Nanoskelton, and 3Dimentional Photonic Crystal. Spin-off technologies are effective for bridging between society and space development. In the near future, beyond Spin off technorogies, we must solve the issues on new intrinsic bridging method aiming the creation of industrial products useful for society through using Kibo.

抄録全体を表示

有人宇宙の本格的な軌道上実験室"スカイラブ計画"の実施から約30年が経過した。これまでに、人間の宇宙滞在に必須となる宇宙医学の分野、流体・燃焼・結晶成長などの物質科学の分野、生物の宇宙放射線影響や重力感受メカニズムの解明を目指した生命科学の分野で数多くの宇宙実験が実施され、物理学や化学など基礎科学の分野でも、重力影響を排除できる軌道上実験室を利用した原理確認実験が行われてきた。重力影響の排除によって、"重力に覆い隠されていた自然現象"や"生物の隠れた能力と多様性"が見えてくる。このような認識から、科学教育や理科教育の現場においても、自然の姿や生物の多様性に関する理解を深める補助手段として、宇宙と宇宙実験を活用することが極めて効果的と思える。このために、これまでの宇宙実験の流れを参照しながら、成果活用の方向についてシンポジウム参加者と意見交換を行う。

抄録全体を表示

FACET, which has been conducted onboard ``Kibo'' since April 9, 2009, was completed on June 12, 2009. FACET aimed to clarify the mechanism of a faceted cellular array growth by precisely observing the phenomena at the solid / liquid interface. Phenyl salicylate / t-butanol alloy was used as a sample material instead of semiconductors or oxides. The crystal growth processes were visualized in situ using a microscope and an interferometer, especially focusing on changes in temperature and concentration in the sample. Some experimental results were briefly reported in the present paper.

抄録全体を表示

The measurement of liquid volume under micro-gravity conditions is an important aspect of space technology. Cryogenic propellants including liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, and liquid natural gas will soon be handled in orbit for space transportation systems. In the present study, Helmholtz resonance is applied to measure a liquid volume. To confirm the applicability of this measurement technique to cryogens, a micro-gravity experiment using liquid nitrogen was carried out. And a theoretical model of a closed system is proposed for the practical application in orbit. A preliminary experiment with water as the test liquid was also carried out to confirm the validity of the model. We successfully detected the Helmholtz resonance frequency and its higher order harmonics. It is confirmed that the measurement method is an effective means for practical application.

抄録全体を表示

Since 1990, Reduced‐gravity experiment flight has been carried out about 12,700 parabolic flights by Mitsubishi MU‐300 and Gulfstream‐Ⅱ airplane in Japan. And a total of 537 experimental subjects have been made by Reduced‐gravity flight in Japan. In addition, Diamond　Air Service Inc. (DAS) which is conducted Reduced‐gravity flight has started new program named ``The simple weightless experiment'' campaigh since 2005. The purpose of this campaign is for the people other than scientist to be able to make easy experiment in weightlees environment and experience to take a space walk. This paper introduces the outline of airplane experiment for scientist and ``The simple weightless experiment'' campaign.

抄録全体を表示