Columbus Orbital Facility Research Articles

Studying the evolution of the hot universe with the X-ray evolving universe spectroscopy mission – XEUS

Europe is one of the major partners building the International Space Station (ISS) and European industry, together with ESA, is responsible for many station components including the Columbus Orbital Facility, the Automated Transport Vehicle, two connecting modules and the European Robotic Arm. Together with this impressive list of contributions there is a strong desire within the ESA Member States to benefit from this investment by utilizing the unique capabilities of the ISS to perform world-class science. XEUS is one of the astronomical applications being studied by ESA to utilize the capabilities of the ISS. XEUS will be a long-term X-ray observatory with an initial mirror area of 6 m 2 at 1 keV that will be expanded to 30 m 2 following a visit to the ISS. The 1 keV spatial resolution is expected to be 2–5″ half-energy-width. XEUS will consist of separate detector and mirror spacecraft (MSC) aligned by active control to provide a focal length of 50 m. A new detector spacecraft, complete with the next generation of instruments, will also be added after visiting the ISS. The limiting 0.1–2.5 keV sensitivity will then be 4 × 10 −18 erg cm −2 s −1, around 200 times better than XMM-Newton, allowing XEUS to study the properties of the hot baryons and dark matter at high redshift.

Hierarchical fault detection, isolation and recovery applied to cof and atv avionics

The avionics architecture of in-orbit infrastructure elements is driven by safety. Safety of the crew inside the Columbus Orbital Facility (COF) laboratory module, safety of the Space Station as a whole for the automated transfer vehicle (ATV) when performing a rendezvous manoeuvre. The design answers on safety requirements, methods and tools used for the development stem from a common concept. The paper first describes the COF Data Management System architecture, basically organised in two layers with a strict hierarchical relationship. The vital layer is in charge of COF initial activation, safety supervision and emergency modes management. The nominal layer is a distributed system, organised around a local area Ethernet network. Under normal conditions, it is in charge of its own fault management supported by management agents distributed in the system. Fault detection criteria are derived from an FMECA (failure mode, effect and criticality analysis) and also from a SEEA (software error effect analysis). Recovery actions are allocated to various decision levels in the hierarchy depending on their time criticality. In ATV, the same principles apply, but the implementation is adapted to the peculiarities of an automated vehicle. The nominal layer, because of the time constraints bearing upon any reconfiguration, implements fault masking (majority voting) instead of fault detection and recovery.The vital layer is allocated the very critical task of monitoring the spacecraft attitude and velocity, and performing if necessary a collision avoidance manoeuvre. An end-to-end comprehensive methodology is put in place to be able to demonstrate the compliance of the systems to technical, product assurance and safety requirements.

Hypervelocity impact research - acceleration technology and applications -

Modern acceleration techniques like two- and three stage light gas guns, electrostatic and plasma accelerators, shaped charge launchers etc. will be reviewed and discussed with respect to their projectile mass and velocity ranges and their applicability for the experimental simulation of hypervelocity collisions. Recent studies in the fields of micrometeoroid/debris shielding (e.g. COLUMBUS Orbital Facility), as well as pressure vessel behavior under hypervelocity impact conditions will be presented as examples of applications.

Holographic diagnostics of fluid experiments onboard the International Space Station

This paper describes the holographic measurement system planned for accommodation in the ESA Fluid Science Laboratory (FSL), a new facility under development for the Columbus Orbital Facility of the International Space Station. The FSL provides research opportunities for experiments with fluids and transparent media under microgravity conditions. One of the diagnostic tools for experimental analysis is a holographic interferometer. Holography is a method used to record and reconstruct wavefronts. The method has a broad spectrum of applications in the field of fluid physics research on Earth and in a microgravity environment. The size, location and velocity of (tracer) particles inside a fluid volume can be analysed by holography, and refractive index fields and corresponding temperature or concentration profiles can be investigated by holographic interferometry. A number of different techniques/materials are available for hologram recording and reconstruction, e.g. photographic emulsions, thermoplastic films, photorefractive crystals and, recently, direct hologram recording with CCD sensors and numerical reconstruction (digital holography). This paper provides a survey of these methods, defines selection criteria for the FSL and describes the principal geometry of the FSL holographic set-up under development.

Columbus orbital facility and automated transfer vehicle: A challenge for agency & industry

Long term continuous operation of the COLUMBUS Orbital Facility (COF) flight- and ground segment requires continuous mission control and operations support capability to ensure proper operation and configuration of the COF systems in support of ongoing science and technology payloads. The ISS logistics scenario will be supported by the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). These operational needs require the built-up of a new ground infrastructure in Europe and USA, enabling an efficient operations for preparation, planning and mission execution. The challenge for the European space community consists in the development and operation of a user friendly operational environment but keeping costs within budgetary constraints. Results of detailed definition studies performed by both agency and industry for the ground infrastructure indicate solutions to those technical and programmatic requirements by using of existing centers and facilities, re-use of C/D phase products (Hardware, Software) and COTS equipment to avoid costly new developments, using engineering expertise of the industrial personnel from flight element phase C/D. The concept for operations execution defines the task sharing between Operations Control Facilities (OCF), Operations Support Facilities and User Operations Sites. Operations support consists of on-line engineering support, off-line engineering support, payload integration, logistics support and crew training support performed by industry. DASA RI has made internal investments in organizational concepts for mission operations as well as in mission technologies and tools based on the standard COLUMBUS Ground Software (CGS) toolset and on knowledge based systems to enable an efficient industrial operations support. These tools are available as prototypes being evaluated in a simulated operational environment.

Survey of optical diagnosis dedicated to fluid physics and materials science

The evolution of scientific requirements to improve knowledge and understanding of sophisticated phenomena occurring during microgravity experiences leads to implement a new generation of hardware with more than classical instrumentation such as temperature or pressure measurement; optical diagnosis for in situ characterization is the unavoidable answer to this problem. However, there are many ways to “observe” one experiment, and optical specifications are so different among the great panel of microgravity experiments. This paper deals with a survey, performed by CNES, for identifying each unique optical system with respect to each optical diagnosis selected to satisfy experimental scenarios such as crystal growth, directional solidification, fluid physics and physical chemistry. The survey pointed out the needs of high resolution video data links and “real time holography”. A new generation of advanced technology was raised from this study, especially the use of photorefractive crystals and polymer resins for hologram recordings. Such optical diagnosis will be implemented in a new multi-user facility (CHEOPS) developed by CNES for the next Columbus Orbital Facility.