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The Columbus Orbital Facility (COF) is being developed as the European Laboratory contribution to the International Space Station (ISS) program. The COF Active Thermal Control System (ATCS) is based on a single phase water loop for the collection of waste heat from payloads and subsystems and the rejection to the ISS Heat Exchangers (HXs). During 1993 the budget constraints and the shifting to November 2002 of the European Laboratory launch led to an incremental qualification approach for the COF ATCS water loop: to qualify the ATCS water loop by analysis using mathematical models correlated throughout a series of testing. The water loop testing has been developed through different incremental steps whose results were correlated by means of ESATAN-FHTS models. The water loop setup testing was upgraded, step by step, by using commercial and flight representative items on the basis of the equipment development status.

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.