


Kibo-RPC Guidance Session will be held.
Date: Jul. 16, 2026 (Monday) 18:00-19:00 (JST)
Held with the Teams conference system.
- Call for Participation in Malaysia will open on August 1.
- Call for Participation for the UNOOSA Slot will open soon.
- 1Students up to graduate school in a Kibo-RPC participating countries/region under the framework of Kibo-ABC may apply for the competition.
- Australia(ASA/OGL)
- Bangladesh(STEMX365)
- Cambodia(MPTC)
- Indonesia(BRIN)
- Japan(JAXA)
- Malaysia(MYSA/National Planetarium of Malaysia)
- Nepal(NESARC)
- Republic of the Philippines(PhilSA)
- Singapore(SF)
- Taiwan(TASA)
- Thailand(NSTDA)
- Vietnam(VNSC)
- 2The team shall be compromised of a minimum of 3 team members. Some participating countries/region may set own minimum and maximum numbers of team members. For details, please check with the local organizer(s) in your country/region.
- 3Students from countries/regions not listed above may be eligible to participate through the UNOOSA international slot. Call for Participation for the UNOOSA slot will open soon. Please check our site or the UNOOSA homepage.
- 1Please carefully read the Kibo-RPC Guidebook.
- 2Please fill out the application form in your language for the Kibo-RPC and submit it to the point of contact (POC) in your country/region as listed below.
- 3The Kibo-RPC POC will inform you of your team ID via email.
Mission: Crisis on the ISS. Track down the invisible anomaly*
A very slight drop in atmospheric pressure was detected in the system monitoring logs of the International Space Station's Japanese Experiment Module ‘Kibo’. While this level of pressure change could be due to an equipment error, if it indicates an air leak, careful investigation is necessary.
The cause has not yet been identified, and it has not been confirmed whether or not there is a leak. At this stage, careful analysis is needed before astronauts can conduct a direct investigation. Therefore, a preliminary inspection will be conducted by operating the Int-Ball2 robot flying inside the ISS.
Based on past operational data and case studies, potential leak locations include joints, hatch areas, and the ends of experimental racks. Checkpoints with AR markers have been installed at each of these potential locations.
Int-Ball2 will visit all checkpoints to collect inspection data. However, leaks are so minute that they are invisible to the naked eye. For inspection cameras and sensors to diagnose correctly, measurements must be taken accurately at the specified positions and orientations. The more accurately you reach the target point, the more accurately you can determine the presence and severity of any abnormalities.
Once all potential locations have been surveyed, the collected data will be integrated and analyzed. This may reveal the true leak location, or it may turn out to be a false alarm. We will try to identify the cause based on the limited information available.
Precisely control Int-Ball2 and uncover the true nature of the anomaly.
- 1Starting from the docking station.
- 2The position and orientation of the automatically generated checkpoints are processed.
- 3An efficient route to visit the distributed checkpoints is planned.
- 4At each checkpoint, Int-Ball2 position and orientation when reading the AR marker are registered.
- 5The mission is complete when all the points are visited, and the goal checkpoint is reached.
- 6Mission complete report.


The Kibo Robot Programming Challenge is an educational program in which students solve various problems by programming free-flying robots (Astrobee and Int-Ball) in the International Space Station (ISS).
The Kibo-RPC will inspire students to develop their educational and professional goals to a higher level.
Participants will have the opportunity to learn cutting-edge methodologies and hone their skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through this program.
The Kibo-RPC will also expand international exchange by encouraging students to interact with other participants from around the world.

has participated in the Kibo-RPC.

has participated in the Kibo-RPC.

has participated in the Kibo-RPC.

has participated in the Kibo-RPC.

has participated in the Kibo-RPC.

has participated in the Kibo-RPC.

© NASA
Astrobee
Astrobee, NASA's new free-flying robotic system, will help astronauts reduce the time spent on routine duties, allowing them to focus more on things that only humans can do.

© JAXA / NASA
Int-Ball
Int-Ball is a free-flying camera robot aiming to ultimately reduce crew time to zero for routine video-shooting tasks by crew in ISS/Kibo.



































































































