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The 'Japanese Experiment Module' (JEM) ''Kibō'' (希望, Hope) is the Japanese contribution to the International Space Station and is produced by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). It is the largest module for the ISS.
It consists of 4 components:

★ The ''Pressurized Module'' (PM) is the core component. It is of cylindrical shape, 11.2 m long and 4.4 m in diameter. It contains 10 International Standard Payload Racks (ISPRs).

★ The ''Exposed Facility'' (EF), also known as 'Terrace' is located outside the port cone of the PM (which is equipped with an airlocked hatch). Experiments are fully exposed to the space environment here.

★ The ''Experiment Logistics Module'' (ELM) contain a pressurized section to serve the PM and an unpressurized section to serve the EF. It is placed atop the port side of the PM, and is highly movable. It is intended as a storage and transportation module.

★ The ''Remote Manipulator System'' (JEMRMS) is a robotic arm, mounted at the port cone of the PM, intended to service the EF and to move equipment from and to ELM.

Contents

Launch plans and progress

Specifications

Planned Experiments on Kibo

References

External links

Launch plans and progress

On May 30, 2003 the PM left Japan for John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), and is now in the Space Station Processing Facility. The ELM PS arrived at KSC March 12, 2007.^[1]
As of June 2007, NASA plans to launch the entire JEM complex in three flights:

★ ''Experiment Logistics Module'' (ELM) PS - February 2008 (Shuttle flight STS-123).

★ Kibo ''Pressurized Module'' (PM), JEM Sys Racks, ''Remote Manipulator System'' (JEM RMS) - April 2008 (Shuttle flight STS-124).

★ ''Exposed Facility'' (EF) - 2009 (Shuttle flight STS-127).

Specifications

Kibō is the largest single ISS module. At the start of the program, it was the smallest, but the other partners, Europe and the US, reduced the size of their respective laboratory modules, while the dimensions of Kibō never changed.

★ ''Pressurized Module''

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★ Length: 11.2 m

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★ Diameter: 4.4 m

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★ Mass: 15,900 kg

★ ''Experiment Logistics Module''

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★ Length: 3.9 m

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★ Diameter: 4.4 m

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★ Mass: 4,200 kg

Planned Experiments on Kibo

'MAXI' x-ray astronomy from 0.5 to 30 keV^[2]

'SMILES' observes and monitors very weak sub-millimeter wave emission lines of trace gas molecules in the stratosphere^[3]

'CALET' Observation for high energy. Launch 2012 through HTV, Mass: 2500 kg^[4]

References

1.
International Space Station Module From Japan Arrives at NASA

2.
Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image: MAXI

3.
Superconducting Submillimeter-wave Limb-emission Sounder: SMILES

4. http://www.icrr.u-tokyo.ac.jp/icrr-study/CALET-EBHU06.pdf

External links

★ http://iss.sfo.jaxa.jp/iss/index_e.html -- NASDA's site on JEM

★ KIBO at JAXA site