Scientific expansion of space station prime goal of STS-122

William Atkins
Tuesday, 27 November 2007 22:05

Science - Space

The scheduled December 6, 2007 launch of the NASA space shuttle Atlantis and its STS-122 crew is the culmination of many months, if not years, of preparation to add laboratory space for scientific studies inside the International Space Station (ISS).        

For the past couple of years, several space shuttle missions, along with many spacewalks of shuttle and station astronauts, have connected life support networks, added and repaired solar arrays, and performed numerous other tasks in preparation to add modules to the space station for expanded living and working space.

The first addition made possible by the actions of these astronauts and thousands of aerospace workers around the world is the nearly 7 meter (23-foot) long by about 4.5-meter (15-foot) diameter research laboratory called Columbus. Its total on-orbit mass (including a 10,500 kilogram payload) is 19,300 kilograms.

Made by the European Space Agency (ESA), Columbus will be the keystone of European activities in space aboard the ISS. It is designed to fit inside the space shuttle’s cargo bay. Its starboard end contains most of the computers used onboard Columbus, while its port end contains the common berthing mechanism (CBM), which will be used to connect Columbus to Harmony, just recently delivered to the space station by the STS-120 crew.

Besides delivering Columbus to the space station, the STS-122 astronauts will also deliver experiments that will be performed at the space station while orbiting around the Earth. Some of these experiments, which will be located within Columbus, include: Biolab, Fluid Science Laboratory (FSL), European Drawer Rack (EDR), and European Physiology Modules (EPM).

Biolab will involve biological experiments on small plants, small invertebrates, microorganisms, animal cells, and tissue cultures. The FSL will conduct research into fluid physics while in a microgravity environment.

The EDR contains standardized experiment container modules (ECMS), which are used for various scientific experiments, while the EPM contains various containers for medical experiments.

Other experiments, which will be setup outside of Columbus, in the shuttle’s cargo bay on a payload rack, include the Solar Monitoring Observatory (SOLAR) and the European Technology Exposure Facility (EuTEF). Eventually, both experiments will be installed on the exterior of Columbus.

The SOLAR, which consists of three instruments—SOVIM (Solar Variantions and Irradiance Monitor), SOLSPEC (Solar Spectral irradiance measurements), and SOL-ACES (Auto-calibrating Extreme Ultraviolet and Ultraviolet spectrometers)—will provide measurements of the Sun’s spectral irradiance.

The STS-122 astronauts, on one of their spacewalks, will also remove a faulty gyroscope and replace it with a new control moment gyroscope (CMG).

NASA ground controllers will initially activate the systems on Columbus, but once the checkouts are complete they will hand over the Columbus laboratory to the ESA Columbus Control Center, which is located within the German Space Operations Center, in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. The German Aerospace Center oversees the entire operation.

Commander Steve Frick, pilot Alan Poindexter, mission specialists Stanley Love and Leland Melvin, and ISS flight engineer Daniel Tani will assist ESA astronauts Leopold Eyharts (from France) and Hans Schlegel (from Germany) during the prep work to get Columbus up and running. Tani will return to Earth with the STS-122 crew, leaving behind Eyhart to perform science experiments on the space station.

The second scientific laboratory to be delivered to the space station is the Japanese Experiment Module, also called Kibo, scheduled for delivery early in 2008.

Other scheduled scientific modules to be delivered to the ISS include the ExPRESS (“Expedite the Processing of Experiments to the Space Station”) Logistics Carrier, by NASA, and the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM), by the Russia Federal Space Agency (RKA).