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The Columbus Orbital Facility is being developed as the European laboratory contribution to the United States' led International Space Station programme. The need to exchange thermal mathematical models frequently amongst the Space Station partners for thermal analyses in support of their individual programme milestone, integration and verification activities requires the development of a commonly agreed and effective approach to identify and validate mathematical models and environments. The approach needs to take into account the fact that the partners have different model and software tool requirements and the fact that the models need to be properly tailored to include all the relevant design features. It must also decouple both programmes from the unavoidable design changes they are still undergoing. This problem presents itself for both active and passive thermal interfaces.

The backbone of the Attached Pressurized Module (APM) is the water cooling loop, which contributes to an optimized payload operation. Dedicated design means are proposed to allow an efficient use of this resource. In case of a Thermal Control System (TCS) failure a controlled run-down of individual payloads is possible to avoid critical situations like overheating due to heat soak back from a furnace. The TCS is flexible enough to allow short payload power peaks thus optimizing the resource allocation without violation of the thermal requirements regarding the temperature limits. The APM will be verified against generic thermal and environmental control requirements. The test and analytical verification effort on payload side is dependant whether the payload is a facility integrated in an International Standard Payload Rack (ISPR) or a smaller entity like a drawer as subset of a facility or a self-standing experiment.