ground processing of the european columbus laboratory at ksc

Paper number

IAC-08.B3.3.2

Author

Dr. Jose Nunez, NASA, United States

Coauthor

Dr. Alessio Festa, European Space Agency (ESA), The Netherlands

Coauthor

Mr. Bernardo Patti, European Space Agency (ESA), The Netherlands

Coauthor

Dr. Hans-Peter Leiseifer, European Space Agency (ESA), The Netherlands

Coauthor

Mr. Gregor Woop, European Space Agency (ESA), The Netherlands

Coauthor

Mr. Stefan Wuebker, EADS Astrium Ltd., Germany

Year

2008

Abstract

Background/Purpose: The Columbus laboratory is the cornerstone of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) contribution to the International Space Station (ISS) and is the first European laboratory dedicated to long-term research in Space.  It has been a part of the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) since February 11, 2008.  During its expected lifespan of 10 years, Columbus will support sophisticated research in weightlessness with its internal facilities in a shirt sleeve environment, accommodating thousands of experiments in life sciences, fluid physics, material sciences and a host of other disciplines.  

Columbus also features a total of four (4) external payload locations offering direct access to deep space with unobstructed fields of view for astrophysical/geophysical and technological experiments research.  Power and command & data handling (including high rate data interfaces) are provided to the external locations from the pressurized laboratory resources.  Further more, three (3) of the Columbus trunnions carry passive attachment mechanisms to enable the accommodation of additional external payloads with power and data interfaces connections back to the laboratory possible.  

Getting to Space, however, was no easy feat.  In addition to the years spent designing, testing, manufacturing and integrating the laboratory in Europe, Columbus still had to be shipped from Germany to NASA at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, from where it would be launched on a Space Shuttle to the ISS.  Once it had arrived in the United States, there were ground processing activities that had to be performed to prepare the laboratory for launch, following a pre-planned three (3) phase approach until launch.  

Methodology/Results: This paper will describe the detailed planning and execution that took place to process ESA’s Columbus laboratory at the Kennedy Space Center.  From shipment from Europe to delivery in the US, to performing an Element Leak Test, to developing a chemical composition for coolant water, to execute a multitude of fit checks for system and payload experiment hardware and final system check out, to security issues while keeping a multi-cultural, multi-agency team engaged.  

Results/Conclusions/Areas for Discussion: Learn about the major steps in ground processing and the necessary ground safety process; getting the laboratory ready for launch; integrating last minute hardware (e.g. ARISS antennas), making changes to the Meteoroid Debris Protection (MDPS) to accommodate crew requests and new operational requirements and still making sure everything was going to work on orbit; issues that this team had to face and experience the lessons learned from this project.

Abstract document

IAC-08.B3.3.2.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-08.B3.3.2.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.