About Area PADLES

Space radiation environment on board a spacecraft changes complicatedly depending on solar activity, solar flare, and conditions of the shielding environment of the spacecraft.

Area PADLES dosimeters are installed at fixed locations onboard the Japanese Experiment Module, Kibo to monitor space radiation environment inside Kibo.

Area PADLES dosimeter enclosed in a polycarbonate case with a tether, and it has Velcro tape on the backside of the case so that it can be attached to the internal walls of the ISS modules.

The dosimeters are installed and swapped every increment or every 6 months for continous area monitoring. Obtained results of continous area monitoring can effectively be utilized for development of future manned space flight technology, especially in respect to the following aspects;

• To provide information on space radiation environment onboard the Kibo for scientists who are proposing or will propose flight experiments.
• To conduct risk assessment due to space radiation exposure on astronauts who will participate in a long-duration spaceflight mission.

Status of Space radiation environment monitor

Area PADLES was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard STS-124 (1J) Mission on May 31, 2008. On June 12, 2008, the first of Area PADLES was attached in Kibo, the continuous fixed point environment monitoring of the space radiation has started.
The measurement result of Area PADLES is shown sequentially on this website.

	Experiment	Launch		Return
		Date	Vehicle	Date	Vehicle
1	Area PADLES 1	June 2008	STS-124（1J）	March 2009	STS-119（15A）
2	Area PADLES 2	March 2009	STS-119（15A）	September 2009	STS-128（17A）
3	Area PADLES 3	August 2009	STS-128（17A）	April 2010	STS-131（19A）
4	Area PADLES 4	April 2010	STS-131（19A）	March 2011	STS-133（ULF5）
5	Area PADLES 5	February 2011	STS-133（ULF5）	May 2011	Soyuz TMA-20（25S）
6	Area PADLES 6	June 2011	Soyuz TMA-02M（27S）	November 2011	Soyuz TMA-02M（27S）
7	Area PADLES 7	December 2011	Soyuz TMA-03M（29S）	April 2012	Soyuz TMA-22（28S）
8	Area PADLES 8	May 2012	Soyuz TMA-04M（30S）	September 2012	Soyuz TMA-04M（30S）
9	Area PADLES 9	October 2012	Soyuz TMA-06M（32S）	March 2013	Soyuz TMA-06M（32S）
10	Area PADLES 10	March 2013	Soyuz TMA-08M（34S）	September 2013	Soyuz TMA-08M（34S）
11	Area PADLES 11	September 2013	Soyuz TMA-10M（36S）	March 2014	Soyuz TMA-10M（36S）
12	Area PADLES 12	March 2014	Soyuz TMA-12M（38S）	September 2014	Soyuz TMA-12M（38S）
13	Area PADLES 13	September 2014	Soyuz TMA-14M（40S）	March 2015	Soyuz TMA-14M（40S）
14	Area PADLES 14	March 2015	Soyuz TMA-16M（42S）	September 2015	Soyuz TMA-16M（42S）
15	Area PADLES 15	September 2015	Soyuz TMA-18M（44S）	March 2016	Soyuz TMA-18M（44S）
16	Area PADLES 16	March 2016	Soyuz TMA-20M（46S）	September 2016	Soyuz TMA-20M（46S）
17	Area PADLES 17	December 2016	H-II Transfer Vehicle KOUNOTORI　6(HTV-6)	June 2017	Dragon CRS-11 （SpX-11）
18	Area PADLES 18	June 2017	Dragon CRS-11 （SpX-11）	January 2018	Dragon CRS-13 （SpX-13）
19	Area PADLES 19	December 2017	Soyuz MS-07（53S）	June 2018	Soyuz MS-07（53S）

Installation Locations of Area PADLES dosimeters

The space radiation environment inboard is measured by Area PADLES dosimeters at 9 places in the Japanese Experiment Module "KIBO".

• 8 places in Pressurized Module (PM)
(It is four places in the Node side, the Exposed Facility (EF) side, and the center for each.)
• 1 places in Experiment Logistics Module-Pressurized Section(ELM-PS)
(zenith and four places in Pressurized Module (PM) joint part)

These Area PADLES dosimeters are collected and changed in every approximately 6-8 months (1-2 times a year), and are analyzed in Tsukuba space center after the return.

•• A setting position of AreaPADLES(cf. right figure)

Installation Locations of Area PADLES dosimeters before Area PADLES 16 is here.

Installation Locations of Area PADLES in the Japanese Experiment Module, KIBO

Pressurized Module (PM)

Experiment Logistics Module-Pressurized Section (ELM-PS)