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\t\t\t\t\t\t27\/11\/2023<\/span> ESA\u2019s first human spaceflight mission lifted off 40 years ago today. Accompanied by the first ESA astronaut, Ulf Merbold, the Spacelab module took flight inside the Space Shuttle\u2019s cargo bay,\u00a0turning NASA\u2019s \u2018space truck\u2019 into a mini-space station for scientific research. Europe continues to be highly active in the crewed module business to this day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n After Spacelab came ESA\u2019s\u00a0Columbus laboratory\u00a0among many other modules of the International Space Station \u2013\u00a0Node 2,\u00a0Node 3\u00a0and the Earth-watching\u00a0Cupola\u00a0\u2013 the\u00a0ATV\u00a0and\u00a0Cygnus cargo spacecraft, the\u00a0European Service Module of the Orion lunar orbiter, modules for the private\u00a0Axiom space station\u00a0and now crucial elements of the\u00a0Gateway station\u00a0due to orbit the Moon.<\/p>\n The industrial legacy of Spacelab is clear. The companies involved have changed names several times since the 1970s, but pressure shells are still being machined from space-grade aluminium-copper alloy 2219 in Turin, Italy \u2013 in premises run today by Thales Alenia Space.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u00a0In some cases these shells go on to be integrated on the spot in Turin, as in the case of ESA\u2019s Gateway modules. For other product lines, such as the Orion ESMs, integration halls at Bremen in Germany fit them with equipment needed to make them spaceworthy, as was done for Spacelab more than four decades ago. Today these form part of an\u00a0Airbus Defence and Space\u00a0facility.<\/p>\n Keeping vacuum at bay<\/b><\/p>\n Pressure shells are a fundamental element of module design, serving to keep external vacuum at bay. They are made of metal sheets a few millimetres thick, shaped into cylinders, bounded by conical end pieces. Spacelab measured 6.7 m in length with a diameter of 4.1 m, the latter set by the dimensions of the Shuttle cargo bay in which it sat. Columbus and the other European-made ISS modules have just slightly larger diameters for the same reason.<\/p>\n By comparison, ESA\u2019s International Habitat module for the Gateway, I-Hab is about 8 m long but just 3 m in diameter \u2013 the same width as the Turin-made pressure shell for the ISS-resupplying Cygnus. ESA\u2019s other Gateway module, the ESPRIT Refuelling Module is 6.4 m in length and 4.6 m in diameter, though a large part of its volume is taken up with fuel tanks, plus a window-fitted pressure tunnel that astronauts can pass through, that has the same length and diameter as I-Hab.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cGateway elements might be smaller than previous European modules but should also be stronger,\u201d explains ESA materials and processes engineer Joao Gandra. \u201cThe big difference is that \u2013 as with Europe\u2019s latest Axiom and Cygnus pressure shells \u2013 they are now welded using \u2018friction stir welding\u2019, which softens rather than melts metals, applying friction to join them together. While traditional welding can impart stresses into joints, this technique results in stronger welds with improved performance.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cToday all our modules are made in this way,\u201d adds Walter Cugno, VP of Exploration and Science at Thales Alenia Space, who worked on Spacelab as a product assurance engineer. \u201cOur capability to supply pressurised elements \u2013 built up initially through ESA projects, along with bilateral agreements between Italian space agency ASI and NASA to produce ISS modules \u2013 is a key asset for all human exploration initiatives, in low-Earth orbit, the Moon and eventually on Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n The I-Hab will serve as living quarters aboard the multi-module Gateway for crews of four for up to 30 days at a time.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Mark Wagner, leading ESA\u2019s Lunar Gateway Baseline, Verification and Assembly, Integration and Testing Team, is helping ensure the module is ready for duty, and a launch currently scheduled for 2028.<\/p>\n Working with Gateway partners<\/b><\/p>\n Mark explains: \u201cThis is only one module making up a multi-module station, so we need to verify that I-Hab is compatible with all the interfaces agreed with our partner agencies such as NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Adding to that, our development schedules are not in parallel: NASA\u2019s HALO module \u2013 whose pressure shell is also being sourced from Turin \u2013 and the Power and Propulsion Element are due to fly together first. \u00a0We, need to be sure that all intermodule interfaces and functions are compatible with the rest of the international Gateway programme.<\/p>\n \u201cAs one example, I-Hab\u2019s Environmental Control and Life Support System, being supplied to us by JAXA, needs to work together with its equivalent in HALO. \u00a0The I-hab module thermal control system is interconnected by heat exchangers with the other modules and visiting vehicles serving the entire Gateway outpost to dump heat loads via external pumped radiators to deep space. These and other combined systems need to work together flawlessly.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Close quarters<\/b><\/p>\n I-Hab\u2019s relatively small size was set by launch mass constraints. The module designers had to rise to the challenge of fitting all necessary systems into just 10 cubic metres of habitable volume, including scientific equipment, cooking facilities including a pull-out galley table, stores, life support and even a quartet of private booths for sleeping.<\/p>\n \u201cPrevious ISS modules \u2013 like Spacelab before them \u2013 were designed with an up and down orientation just because astronauts find that easier to work with. With I-Hab we don\u2019t really have that luxury, because we need to make use of all available space as efficiently as we can, while at the same time fulfilling all human factor and crew-performance-related requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n There will be no toilet however, for the time being; the crew will have to pop back to Orion for that. And early expeditions will have to bring their own consumables with them, one of the reasons that missions will be limited to 30 days at a time, together with high levels of deep space radiation. So for the majority of each year the Gateway will be uncrewed and will need to be overseen accordingly.<\/p>\n Astronaut testing<\/b><\/p>\n To check that I-Hab is a suitable a place to live and work in, the module development team have turned to veteran ESA astronauts including Samantha Cristoferreti, Alexander Gerst and Luca Parmitano, for early \u2018human in the loop\u2019 design assessments. There will be also human testing campaigns based on a representative mock-up of I-Hab installed at Thales Alenia in Turin as well as making use of VR \u2013 and in future combining the two in the form of augmented reality applications.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cWe really aim to draw on the experience they have from working in orbit aboard ISS,\u201d adds Mark. \u201cThey are helping our development team to check on all kinds of variables, like the quality of the lighting, the legibility of labels, the emergency egress layout, even the crew compartments \u2013 how suitable they are for privacy and sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n I-Hab will aim for the same shirtsleeves working environment engineered for Spacelab and the ISS modules, with a 22\u00b0C temperature and 50% humidity, although the atmospheric pressure will be 0.7 atmospheres compared to the sea level pressure that prevails on the Station, helping drive down mass.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Mark adds: \u201cDespite being smaller, I-Hab will be more inclusive in the sense we are designing for 99% astronaut accommodation, meaning almost all the very smallest female astronauts to the biggest male astronauts will be able to operate equipment easily and comfortably \u2013 such as opening hatches or rapidly disconnecting fluid lines \u2013 compared to an equivalent 95 percentile figure for the ISS.\u201d<\/p>\n I-Hab\u2019s development has passed through its Preliminary Design Review (PDR) and is currently in its detailed design phase. For the second ESA-provided Gateway module, ERM \u2013 the ESPRIT Refueling Module, the contractual agreement is currently being finalised, while its PDR is due soon.<\/p>\n This latest example of European crewed module development has a design lifetime of 15 years although judging by the example of the ISS, it is likely to go on operating for much longer still.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Based on the current architecture of the lunar Gateway outpost, more than half of this inspiring space station will be European in origin.<\/p>\n And Europe\u2019s basic Spacelab-inspired module template looks likely to venture still further into space, with a contract recently signed between ASI and Thales Alenia Space to design modules for the lunar surface, to function as part of a future Moon base.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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