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"Airlock" QuickTime movie, 2Mb, 320x240.
| | Japanese Exposed Facility
Part of the Japanese Experiment Module, the Exposed Facility, is designed to give experiments direct exposure to the harsh conditions of space. The space environment around the Space Station is very rarefied, or tenuous; it is almost a perfect vacuum. The density, or pressure, of the atmosphere is much less than a millionth of its value at sea level. Oxygen in its atomic (rather than molecular) form causes damage to sensitive surfaces on the Space Station as it moves through the atmosphere at 4.5 miles per second (7 kilometers per second). Some energetic electrons and ions which are trapped by the geomagnetic field in the Earth's radiation belts, the van Allen belts, come down to the altitude of the Space Station. Into this environment metallic and organic samples will be placed. The results of these studies will give us a better understanding of materials and of the low Earth orbit environment. The results obtainedwill also be useful when planning even grander space missions, such as a return to the Moon or missions to Mars. | |  |
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