The food-stamp economy
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FACTBOX: Japan's space laboratory Kibo
(Reuters) - The largest of the International Space Station's laboratories will be Japan's Kibo, which means "hope."
Here's a look at the complex, the second part of which was launched on Saturday on board the space shuttle Discovery:
* Kibo's main segment is a cylinder about 37 feet (11 meters) long and 15 feet in diameter, about the size of a bus, and weighs about 32,000 pounds (14,520 kg).
There is room inside for 23 refrigerator-sized racks, 10 of which will be devoted to science experiments. The entire lab is so big it needs three shuttle flights for launch and assembly.
* In addition to the main pressurized laboratory, Kibo has its own storage room, which was delivered to the space station in March, and a porch, to be taken into orbit next year, that will have robot arms to tend to experiments in the vacuum of space.
* Areas of research include materials sciences, fluid physics and biomedicine. Kibo also will host cultural activities, such as art and orbital dance, in addition to serving as a workplace for science.
* Japan will mount a high-definition television system outside the complex to beam pictures of Earth to the ground around the clock.
* Japan spent 20 years and about $2.8 billion developing the complex. The main segment is valued at about $1 billion.
(Source: NASA web site, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)
(Reporting by Irene Klotz in Cape Canaveral; editing by Jim Loney and Bill Trott)
