Thermal Environmental Services and Requirements for Columbus Payloads

The Columbus Attached Pressurized Module (APM), part of the International Space Station (ISS), will support scientific, technological and commercial activities in a low earth orbit micro-gravity environment. Basic and applied research, technology development and demonstration will be accomplished in areas such as material sciences, life sciences and fluid physics. The APM, now in the detailed design C/D phase, will provide location for ten International Standard Payload Racks (ISPRs) and three storage racks, in an atmospheric pressure “shirt-sleeve” environment. The maintaining of habitable conditions and the provision of essential thermal-environmental services to payloads will be ensured by the APM Environmental Control System (ECS), as defined on the Columbus Payload Accommodation Handbook, Appendix C. The ECS will control cabin air pressure, composition, temperature and humidity and module surface temperatures, to ensure suitable environmental conditions for crew and ISPRs. Essential services to the payloads provided by the ECS will include the provision of a moderate temperature water sink, gaseous nitrogen, a vacuum resource and a waste gas venting facility. This paper provides an overview of the APM environmental conditions and the relevant requirements levied on the ISPRs aimed at maintaining those conditions. The ECS provided services are then presented in detail. The results of an analysis campaign aimed at evaluating the interface conditions ensured by the vacuum and venting system to the differently located ISPRs is presented.