|
|
Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) has been operated aboard the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) of the International Space Station (ISS). SMILES uses two superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixers to conduct atmospheric observation based on submillimeter waves. These SIS mixers, which are assembled into our cryogenic system equipped with a two-stage Stirling cycle cooler, a Joule -Thomson (JT) cycle cooler, and a cryostat composed of three stages, are cooled to the temperature level of 4K. SMILES was launched on September 11, 2009 (UT) from the Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC). The cryogenic system reached 4.1K in about 70 hours after it began the cooling task, and the observation was initiated. The cryogenic system is now being operated successfully with significantly less power consumption in orbit. This system has been working for about 4500 hours.
|
|
