Japanese Kounotori 6 arrives at ISS
/
Having arrived ahead of schedule, the Kounotori 6 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station. Photo Credit: Shane Kimbrough / NASA
Japan’s sixth “white stork” arrived at the International Space Station to deliver supplies, experiments, and Christmas gifts for the crew. The Kounotori 6 cargo ship, also called HTV-6, was captured by the outpost’s robotic Canadarm2 at 5:37 a.m. EST (10:37 GMT) Dec. 13, 2016.
Almost three-and-a-half hours later, at 8:57 a.m. EST (13:57 GMT), the cargo ship was berthed to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module at the forward end of the station.
The Japanese cargo ship station-keeps moments before the Expedition 50 crew used the robotic Canadarm2 to "grab" the spacecraft. It would later be berthed to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module. Photo Credit: Shane Kimbrough / NASA
“It has about four-and-a-half tons of supplies for us, which we’re really excited about,” said Shane Kimbrough, Expedition 50 commander, right after capture. “We were talking last night and thought it was really cool how our cooperation, and the strength of our international cooperation, is so strong when you have a NASA astronaut and a European Space Agency astronaut using the Canadian robotic arm grabbing a Japanese vehicle and attaching it to the U.S. side of the space station.”
In addition to the 600 liters of water, food, and crew commodities that the soda can-shaped vessel ferried to orbit – are new TV cameras, a new Small Satellite Orbital Deployer, and seven CubeSats in the pressurized section of Kounotori 6.
In the unpressurized section are six new lithium-ion batteries, which will replace 12 nickel-hydrogen batteries.
“Based on a lot of the equipment that’s brought up, we’re going to see a lot of robotic and spacewalk activity coming up in the new few weeks, and it’s going to be really exciting,” Kimbrough said.
Kounotori 6 is scheduled to remain berthed to the ISS for the next six weeks. During that time, Kimbrough and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pasquet will venture out on at least two spacewalks to install the six new batteries. Those extravehicular activities are currently scheduled for Jan. 6 and 13.
Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA, right, and Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of ESA seen moments after the successful capture of Kounotori 6, top. Photo Credit: NASA
Nine of the 12 replaced batteries will be placed in the Exposed Pallet of Kounotori 6 to be disposed of upon the destructive re-entry of the craft. The other three will be stored on the outpost.
The cargo ship launched atop an H-IIB rocket four days ago, Dec 9, from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. It spent the intervening time catching up to and rendezvousing with the ISS.
The launch was originally scheduled for sometime in September of 2016. However, a leaking pipe was discovered on the spacecraft during a pressurization test. On Aug 10, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency decided to postpone the launch, ultimately to Dec. 9.
In addition to cargo for the outpost, the spacecraft has two built-in technology demonstration payloads. The first is SFINKS, which stands for Solar Cell Film Array Sheet for Next Generation on Kounotori Six. It is a test of thin film solar cells.
The second experiment is KITE, or Kounotori Integrated Tether Experiment. This experiment will run after the spacecraft departs from the outpost in late January. It will test a 700-meter electrodynamic tether with a 20-kilogram end-mass.
The goal of KITE is to demonstrate both the extending of a tether and to observe how it generates an electrical current. Both technologies could be someday be used to help remove space debris.
Video courtesy of NASA
NOTE: While this article was written by Derek Richardson, it was originally published at SpaceFlight Insider. Feel free to head over there to read all the stuff they write about!
