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European Space Laboratory Columbus to Accelerate the Pace of Space Exploration
With the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis on Thursday afternoon from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a new era in space research has begun. The shuttle's payload is the European Space Agency’s (ESA) new Columbus module for the International Space Station (ISS). The module promises to pay major dividends in new discoveries that will advance the science and practice of space flight. The 23-foot-long cylinder provides space for multiple experiments over its 10-year stay in orbit. Inside, up to three astronauts will conduct and monitor experiments in biology, fluid dynamics, physiology and other disciplines that will help scientists understand the effects of space travel on people and equipment and thus plan longer space missions. A milestone in international cooperation on space exploration The orbiting laboratory, the construction of which was overseen by the German Aerospace Center, DLR, is Europe’s most important contribution to the ISS, and it represents a high-water mark in international cooperation on space research. It is also a major achievement for the German aerospace industry. Germany provided 51 percent of the funding for Columbus, and the primary contractor was EADS Astrium Space Transportation in Bremen, which managed a complex development and construction process. EADS was able to deliver the 880 million euro ($1 billion) module “on cost, on time and on quality,” according to Astrium Senior Vice President Michael Menking. Germany will continue to play a central role in the Columbus mission as Columbus will be monitored at a control center located at DLR’s facility in Oberpfaffenhofen outside Munich, where 75 engineers and researchers will collect and analyze data from experiments performed in orbit 400 miles above the earth. The Oberpfaffenhofen staff will collaborate closely with mission control centers in Houston and Moscow. Another critical German contribution to Columbus will be astronaut Hans Schlegel, a physicist and army paratrooper who will help attach the 23-foot research lab to the ISS in two space walks with NASA astronaut Rex Walheim.
Accelerating innovation According to DLR chief Wörner, space flight satisfies not only a deep-seated human need to explore, but it is also a driver of innovation. The experiments performed aboard Columbus promise to accelerate the pace of space exploration while also providing new solutions to terrestrial challenges like diseases and energy production. Columbus will house 16 modular “racks” that provide electrical and data connections as well as automated laboratory tools and instruments for a variety of long term experiments that will largely explore the effects of zero gravity environments on living organisms and technology. A biology lab will provide a controlled environment for experiments involving cells, tissues and even small plants and animals, and a physiology lab will give astronauts the tools to perform tests on the respiratory, nervous and circulatory systems.
By learning more about how zero gravity environments affect living organisms, scientists hope to find solutions to challenges such as loss of muscle mass and increased sensitivity to radiation that would affect astronauts on a the long journey that would be necessary to explore planets like Mars. Other experiments could even help astronauts raise plants in outer space. These same experiments could provide clues to diseases like osteoporosis or immune disorders. Other research performed aboard Columbus will teach us more about the earth. The University of Cottbus in the German State of Brandenburg designed the Geoflow project to learn more about how gravity affects the earth’s inner structures. Outside the influence of Earth’s gravity in Columbus’s Fluid Science Laboratory, they will be able to study the movement of liquids within a model of the earth that will generate its own artificial gravitational field. The beginning of a process The launch of Columbus is not just the culmination of a process, but instead the first of several leaps forward in European space research, according to ESA’s Washington representative Frederic Nordlund. In 2008, the ESA will launch its Automated Transfer Vehicle, an unmanned vehicle that will bring supplies such as water and oxygen to the ISS. In 2009, the crew of the ISS will be expanded from three to six, further accelerating the pace of research. Assistant NASA Administrator Michael O’Brien noted in December that the addition of Columbus to the ISS would help NASA meet the priorities laid out in the Bush Administration’s space exploration program of 2005, which placed a renewed focus on manned space flight. February 7, 2008 Links:
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