NEWS

On November 7 2023, U.S. time, "Kirara" which means 'shiny' in Japanese, will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on Space-X Dragon. This is the fifth mission of Kirara, the protein crystallization service operated on the ISS through the ICE Cubes service and utilizing a small reusable incubator developed by JAMSS. A number of companies, research institutions and universities from Japan, Korea and Taiwan will participate in the mission. On November 5 2023, U.S. time, "Kirara" which means shiny in Japanese, will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on Space-X Dragon. This is the fifth mission of Kirara, the protein crystallization service operated on the ISS through the ICE Cubes service and utilizing a small reusable incubator developed by JAMSS. A number of companies, research institutions and universities from Japan, Korea and Taiwan will participate in the mission. Some of them have been participating since Kirara's first mission. Several samples related to the government projects will be launched by the team of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Commissioned Research Project on Earth Observation Technology. The members are Prof. Igarashi, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo, who achieved first cellulose synthesis by enzyme in space, Assoc. Prof. Tajima, Graduate School of Engineering, University of Hokkaido and Confocal Sciences. Moreover Korea Basic Science Institute will launch samples to validate their breakthrough results obtained during their previous Kirara mission. In addition, College of Industrial Technology, Nihon University, Tokushima University, Nagoya City University and Chem-Station, a chemistry portal site, also participated.

Kirara Share Service
The Kirara Share Service, which uses the available space in the Kirara incubator cube, will be equipped with an SD card that contains message data. This is part of Kirara's "Launch Your Message to Space" campaign held during APRSAF-29 (Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum - 29) in Jakarta, Indonesia last September. Messages from space agencies and space business representatives in Asian countries who participated in the forum are stored on an SD card and will be launched as a special campaign.

Space Education Mission
As space education missions, the following two projects will be flown together:
 JAMSS and NIPPON TRAVEL AGENCY CO., LTD. will jointly host the "Space Science Lab - Challenge to make crystals in the real space! ～" sponsored by TOKYO OHKA KOGYO CO.The samples which were defined by Japanese students will be loaded on Kirara after they have studied the conditions, with the goal of "making larger and more beautiful crystals”. This year, seven teams of 25 middle and high school students from the Kanto region will participate. 

The Kirara Science Program in Taiwan, an extracurricular activity program for high school students, is being hosted by National Central University (NCU) in Taoyuan, Taiwan in cooperation with the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center and sponsored by the Taoyuan City Department of Education. Funding was also provided by grants from the Taiwan Ministry of Education to the NCU Center for Astronautical Physics and Engineering and the Support for University STEM and Female Researcher Development Project. This will be the first time for the Kirara Science Program to be held in Taiwan, and participants consist of eight teams of 40 high school students living in Taoyuan City, Taipei City, and other nearby areas. Same as Japanese students, they will study conditions with the goal of "making larger and more beautiful crystals," and their samples will be loaded onto Kirara as well. 

About Labels on Kirara
Two labels (5 x 5 cm) can be attached to the Kirara device. This time, the labels will be attached to the Kirara to pray for the success of the Japanese and Taiwanese space education missions. The label for the Japanese space education mission features the mission patch of the event's title, "Space Science Lab", while the label for the Taiwanese space education mission features a group photo of the participating high school students. The Taiwanese label has a handwritten "A4 YHLXY 1!!”. This is the name of one representative team out of the nine participating teams. The experience of having their own label go into space will be a precious memory for the children.

About Kirara Service
Kirara service is a commercial service realized within an international framework of private companies, in which Confocal Sciences will load crystallization tubes filled with customer samples into the JAMSS-developed incubator ”Kirara”, while Space Applications Services of Europe covers the installation of the Kirara incubator cube in the commercial ICE Cubes facility on-board the ISS. As the commercial space station becomes more and more accessible and increasingly commercial, we develop our business in preparation for the new era by providing services using the assets (equipment, etc.) of private companies. 

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