JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Q. Tell us about your work on manned space activity.

Astronaut Mamoru Mouri conducting an FMPT life-science experiment. Masato Koyama worked on the development of laboratory equipment for life-science experiments and helped conduct them. (courtesy: JAXA/NASA)

Fuwatto ’92 mission insignia

I was involved in developing laboratory equipment, and in experiments conducted in space by astronaut Mamoru Mouri in 1992 (the First Material Processing Test, or FMPT) and by astronaut Chiaki Mukai in 1994 (the Second International Microgravity Laboratory, or IML-2). I’m now working with Kibo, the Japanese Experiment Module on the International Space Station. I mainly handle experiments that concern education, the humanities and social science.

Q. How did the First Material Processing Test come about?

Work on the Space Shuttle began in earnest in the late 1970s, after the United States’ Apollo program came to an end in 1972. There were a lot of people around the world who really wanted to make use of the shuttle. For example, the Europeans developed Spacelab, a laboratory loaded inside the shuttle’s cargo bay.
Japan didn’t want to fall behind Europe, so in 1978, when the Japanese government formulated the Fundamental Policy of Japan’s Space Activities to guide future space exploration policy, it clearly stipulated that we would “use the Space Shuttle to acquire technology to send humans to and conduct experiments in space.” In response we started the FMPT program.
At the time, Japanese space exploration consisted mainly of launching rockets loaded with satellites for things such as communications, broadcasting, meteorology and Earth observation. Around that time, after using American rocket technology for the N-I and N-II rockets, we developed the H-II rocket with our own technology. Then we changed direction, feeling that we should move towards new ways of using the space environment and work on manned space exploration.

Q. Did anyone in Japan have any experience with space experiments before the FMPT?

The Space Shuttle with Spacelab loaded on board (courtesy: NASA)

Around the time the FMPT got started in 1980, the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA, now part of JAXA) already had experience with experiments in space using rockets. It wasn’t like they didn’t have any knowhow – the equipment for experimenting with materials was fairly well developed. Experiments using small rockets last only about six minutes in zero gravity, but I think we were able to learn some fundamental things. On the other hand, the FMPT involved sending an astronaut into space to conduct the experiments, so the rockets were much bigger. So it seems to me that NASDA pretty much started from scratch with its manned space experiments.
Meanwhile the Spacelab program, developed in Europe, started conducting experiments in 1983, and we learned what sort of tests they were conducting on the Space Shuttle. Japanese researchers also participated in experiments in Spacelab.

Q. How were the FMPT experiments chosen and planned out?

Astronaut Mamoru Mouri practicing a materials experiment inside a training version of Spacelab

In 1979, we put out a public call for ideas, and received 103 suggestions, out of which 34 were selected. Twenty-two of these were materials experiments – using microgravity in the production of new materials – while 12 were life-science experiments – for example, investigating how fish are affected by space sickness. I think the great number of ideas we received was due to the excitement there was around space-related science at the time.
Because most of the experiments we did in space concerned materials, there was a lot of talk at the time about building a space factory later on. I guess this is why they put the word “Material” in First Material Processing Test, the name of the mission. However, after experiments began on the shuttle and we realized how expensive it was to go to space and back, we decided that we ought to focus more on life-science experiments using the space environment, rather than trying to build a manufacturing facility in space.

Q. What were some of the difficulties in executing the FMPT?

Astronaut Mamoru Mouri conducting an experiment (courtesy: JAXA/NASA)

At the time, my assignment was to assemble all the laboratory equipment for life-science experiments. Overall, it was a tough job, that’s the only way I can describe it. One problem was that there were many people involved.
Many rockets and satellites are made by a single manufacturer, but in the case of the FMPT there were a lot of interests involved besides the company making the lab equipment. Even though I am not a researcher and don’t have as much scientific expertise, I had to coordinate between NASA and various other parties, including the scientists conducting the experiments and the equipment manufacturers, so arranging everything was hard work.
Then, because it was Japan’s first set of experiments in space, we wanted as many researchers to participate as possible, so we probably planned too many experiments. It was very difficult to control everything and move things forward. Our racks were so jam-packed that NASA asked us to assemble the racks by ourselves because NASA could not do that.
Since the FMPT consisted of manned experiments, the safety of the astronauts came first. NASA’s safety standards are extremely strict, so meeting them was the toughest part. NASA guidelines on design safety were written in general terms, so even at NASA there was a lot of debate over how to interpret them. And after the Challenger accident in 1986, they started to take an even tougher line on designing safe experiments. Some things that had previously passed inspection now failed, which made my job even harder.