Columbus Integrated System Level ECS Test Correlation

The Columbus ECS PFM Test was intended as the final verification of the Module Thermal Design after a series of successful tests at subsystems level (e.g. the Active Thermal Control Subsystem and the Environmental Control and Life Support System)

The test campaign has been articulated as a sequence of several test cases to investigate the main thermal aspects, to prove the Module thermal design in the extreme operative conditions and to correlate the thermal mathematical model (TMM).

The interpretation of test results and the correlation confirmed that the thermal design of the module is adequate, but some areas of concern remain, mainly for the difficulty to translate to 0-g the results of a complex test in 1-g environment, and for some aspects of the air and cabin loops.