Japan's entry into the arena of space science came later than countries like the United States and the former Soviet Union, but once they embarked on the study of space science, they devoted a considerable amount of energy to it.

NASDA has created an efficient and well-respected space science program, despite their limited access to long-term microgravity environments.

Using ground-based facilities like drop towers and exploiting a strongly supported sounding rocket program, Japanese researchers have made significant contributions in many areas of space research.

In addition, over the past six years, NASDA has arranged with NASA to provide funds and/or hardware in exchange for conducting Japanese-designed experiments on space shuttle missions.

Japanese equipment and experiments have played significant roles in quite a few microgravity science� related missions, including Spacelab�Japan (SL�J), the International Microgravity Laboratory (IML) series, the Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS) mission, and the Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL) missions.

NASDA astronauts have also flown aboard several shuttle missions, including the most recent, STS-95, which counted Payload Specialist Chiaki Mukai as a member of its crew.

Japan's strong commitment to space research is further evidenced by NASDA's early sponsorship of the plans to build an international space station.

One of the four original space station partners, along with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and NASA, NASDA has remained steadfastly dedicated to the project over the 14 years that have elapsed since the station was originally proposed.

Robert Rhome, director of the Microgravity Research Division at NASA headquarters, calls Japan "probably the steadiest ISS partner, budgetwise and programwise." He adds, "Once the Japanese commit to do something, they can be expected to follow through on it."

Japan's commitment to the ISS entails the development of two research modules and their accompanying logistics modules. The Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) will be one of four pressurized "canisters" that will provide a shirt-sleeve laboratory environment in which ISS crewmembers can conduct research.

In addition, NASDA is developing the Exposed Facility, which will provide space for experiments that need to or can be conducted outside of the station's pressurized environment.

The JEM will house ten International Standard Payload Racks for research in the life and microgravity sciences; five of those racks will be allocated to the United States as part of the original partnership arrangement.

NASDA is currently planning six microgravity hardware candidates to be placed in their racks: the Gradient Heating Furnace, the Advanced Furnace for Microgravity Experiments with X-Ray Radiography, the Isothermal Furnace, the Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF), the Fluid Physics Experiment Facility, and the Solution/Protein Crystal Growth Facility.

The experiments planned for these six facilities focus on research themes that differ somewhat from those being pursued by U.S. researchers.

Nevertheless, some of the facilities may be useful to NASA investigators, and negotiations to share facilities that support common interests are being considered.

Of particular interest is the ELF.

While provisions are being made for conducting materials science experiments in the Materials Science Research Facility in the U.S. laboratory on the ISS, the opportunities made possible by electrostatic levitation are intriguing.

However, to be of use to U.S. researchers, certain specifications related to the ELF may need to be amended. To this end, reports Rhome, "we're going to have a discussion with [the Japanese and U.S. materials science] communities as a part of the Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society meeting in March 1999, looking at the whole range of containerless processing.

We're also pulling in the Germans because of their electromagnetic levitator, the TEMPUS facility, and the Canadians because of their acoustic levitator, and we're looking at a broad range of capabilities -- acoustic, electrostatic, and magnetic." It is hoped that this collaborative planning effort will result in hardware that is beneficial to all users of the ISS.

Discussion of an agreement involving Japanese researchers' use of the U.S. Fluids and Combustion Facility is also taking place, reports Judith Robey, program development and coordination manager for the Microgravity Research Division at NASA headquarters.

"Since they're not building any combustion hardware," says Robey, "they want to use our combustion facility. We are trying to set up a bilateral meeting some time in the near future to start discussing and writing a Memorandum of Understanding to deal with that issue, along with some others."

The other primary contribution from Japan is the Exposed Facility (EF), which is often referred to as "the back porch" of the JEM.

The EF will have ten locations for experiments. Four of these locations are assigned to the United States, and NASA's Low-Temperature Microgravity Physics Facility is already being developed to fill some of that space.

Along with fundamental physics experiments, which take advantage of the frigid temperatures of space, the Japanese are planning EF experiments in science and engineering, Earth and space observation, and communication technology.

The experiments on the EF will be able to be changed out by the Remote Manipulator System, which is an arm, controlled from inside the JEM, that is also being developed by the Japanese.

The Japanese elements will be added to the space station during the third phase of the ISS assembly.

Revision D of the ISS Assembly Schedule calls for the logistics module for the JEM to be the first Japanese element to be carried to the ISS in October 2001. It will be followed by the JEM laboratory canister in January 2002.

Finally, the EF will arrive on the station in June 2002. All of the Japanese elements will be ferried to the ISS aboard the space shuttle. Japan's enthusiasm for and dedication to the ISS is undeniable.

Active in both the International Microgravity Strategic Planning Group (IMSPG) and the International Space Life Sciences Strategic Working Group, NASDA has overcome its later start in the "space race" to prove itself a major player in the area of space research.

Shinichi Yoda, head of microgravity at NASDA's Space Utilization Research Center and System, has served as co-chairman of the IMSPG since March 1998, and Japan played host to an IMSPG meeting in June.

The meeting in Japan also gave NASDA a chance to showcase their impressive progress on their portion of the ISS.

"They're as far along on their laboratory as the U.S. is on ours, and ours is supposed to go up sooner," reports Rhome.

"They have continued to work toward that goal, despite changing deadlines." That persistence is one of the qualities that makes Japan an extremely valuable partner in the intricate and involved collaboration to present the world with an international space station.

MicroGravity News - SpaceDaily Special Report

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