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A very significant effort has been conducted in the 2007 to adequately prepare the off-site support to be provided by Thales Alenia Space Italia (TAS-I) to the Columbus Mission Stage 1.E. for Thermal Control aspects. The tasks have been conducted in the frame of the Engineering Support Team (EST) Off-Site responsibilities in response to the requests and in strict cooperation with the On-Site Support Team. The activities have considered all the constituents of the Thermal Control System (TCS) of Columbus including the Payloads to be utilized during the Stage 1.E and have covered the different stage phases since the Launch-to-Activation phase up to the Payloads activation and operation ones. A large slice of activities have concerned the simulation of the Active Thermal Control Subsystem (ATCS) and Passive Thermal Control Subsystem (PTCS) operations and resources to the equipment and Payloads in nominal, off-nominal and emergency conditions.

The need to validate through an in-flight experience the re-entry systems and technologies and their strategic value in the field of space transportation and exploration future mission, led in Europe in the past years to design and develop several experimental vehicles in the frame of National and ESA programs. In this context, the Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP) has been conceived by the ESA Member States to collect and harmonize the know-how gained by the European Space Community and to direct the technical effort and the necessary funds relevant to this matter on the development and the manufacturing of an European Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), a re-entry demonstrator, to be launched at the beginning of the next decade (2012).

The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is a project conceived and designed to support from the logistic point of view the International Space Station (ISS) Russian Segment (RS). The ATV is constituted by two main sections: the Spacecraft (SC) and the Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC). The SC provides all the functions requested during the ATV flight, as for example the propulsion, the navigation control, the electrical power generation, the management of the data. The ICC has the scope to support the docking with the ISS and to transport and deliver the dry and fluid cargoes. The ICC is composed of a habitable Pressurised Module (PM) and a non-pressurised External Module (EM). ALENIA Spazio is responsible for the design and the integration of the ICC and for the Thermal Control System (TCS) of the complete ATV.

The Mini Pressurised Logistic Module (MPLM) includes an Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS), whose general purpose is to guarantee a comfortable environment for the Crew. In particular, among the functions of the ECLSS, there is the provision of a correct ventilation in the habitable area of the Module and an air flow adequate to support fire detection in powered zones. These tasks are carried out by an air ventilation system mainly composed of a fan, eight cabin diffusers and a ducting system. In addition, the ECLSS furnishes, through a dedicated distribution system, the capability to suppress fire by release of the Carbon Dioxide contained in a portable fire extinguisher.

At present, limited tools are available to model atmosphere control and supply systems simply, in order to allow quick design assessments based on analytical performances. In this context, the utilization of PC based ESACAP adapted as an Atmosphere Control and Supply (ACS) simulation tool is described. The analyses results shown in this paper refer to the activities of MPLM baseline re-definition carried out in accordance with the Space Station re-configuration. As a consequence, in several cases the described analyses reflect conservative assumptions and have been performed in a parametric way so as to take the uncertainties into account.

The Mini Pressurised Logistics Module (MPLM), a cooperative project between NASA and ASI that will be designed, developed, produced, integrated and delivered by Alenia, is a pressurised volume devoted to the resupply and return of Space Station (SS)containerized cargo requiringapressurised environment, via the National Space Transportation System (NSTS). As a servicer for the SS, the MPLM will have to accomplish several trips between Earth and SS in support of logistic needs. Since the active payloads launched with MPLM (freezers and refrigerators) require resources during the transportation phase inside the NSTS, the MPLM has the peculiar capacity to exchange power, data and fluids with the Orbiter before docking to SS. Once docked to SS, the MPLM will be required to provide its full performance, making use of the resources available from the SS Node; nevertheless, in this phase some of the MPLM functions are demanded from the SS.

Columbus Pressurised Modules (APM permanently attached to Space Station Freedom and MTFF free flyer) will support the scientific experiments and commercial space exploitation requiring manned interaction and intervention (APM) or infrequent servicing/resupply by flight crew (MTFF) in a low gravity environment. This paper is based on the activities performed during the early stages of Columbus Phase C/D and presents: the Active Thermal Control design solutions including the architecture of the fluid loops, the fluid loops monitoring and control philosophy and the fluid loops components and design features; the Passive Thermal Control design solutions including MLI, anticondensation, heaters concept and thermo-optical properties selection.