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Trace contaminants originating from both material off-gassing and human metabolism may cause human safety and welfare issues, when they accumulate in the spacecraft cabin air. For long duration missions and planetary bases, biological oxidation is a viable solution for the removal of these contaminants. The Biological Air Filter, BAF, a development of Stork and Bioclear is a continuously operating system, which degrades trace organic contaminants to harmless components like water and CO2. The BAF forms an interesting alternative to the existing physical-chemical trace contaminant control systems. This ecological system is low in weight, volume and power consumption. Due to the nature of the system, the maintenance requirements are also very limited. The applied micro-organisms are harmless and the system is operated at atmospheric pressure, which makes the system extremely safe within the operating environment.

The design of the Environmental Control System (ECS) of the COLUMBUS Attached Pressurized Module (APM) has lately undergone a series of major modifications. These were on one side due to the increased technical maturity of the program and on the other side due to the agreed common understanding amongst the three partners (NASA/ESA/NASDA) that some functions need to be considered at overall Space Station level and therefore their relevant implementation shall have an high level of commonality. A typical example was the introduction of a set of fire detection and suppression requirements which, being jointly applicable to the US, European and Japanese modules, led to significant modification of the APM internal architecture. The implementation of a similar design for the fire detection and suppression function ensures a unified approach for the safety management of the Space Station under emergency conditions related to these particular hazards.

The Environmental Control System (ECS) of two of the three configurations of the Columbus Programme, namely the Columbus Attached Laboratory (APM) and the Free Flying Laboratory (MTFF) provides a micro environment in space to support safe and comfortable working conditions for the crew and necessary resources to perform experimental activities. Recent developments in the international in-orbit infrastructure, i.e. the Space Station Freedom (SSF) with the APM as European contribution and the European elements MTFF with HERMES and the ARIANE-5 launcher are rapidly converging towards matured engineering and programmatic goals. The restructuring activities (SSF), detailed reconsideration of key requirements (MTFF) and cost saving options task force (APM) are examples which have already, or will considerably impact the ECS of the involved Columbus flight configurations.