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Paris, 15 January 2003
Press Release
Nø 05-2003

ESA payloads feature on Space Shuttle research mission
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European scientists will be 'turning off' the effects of gravity 
during the STS-107 Space Shuttle research mission this month in order 
to gain a better understanding of processes in medicine, technology 
and science.  Their investigations will be among some 80 experiments 
performed during a 16-day mission in Earth orbit to be launched from 
Cape Canaveral tomorrow.

Seven of the 31 payloads are sponsored by ESA, and the crew will work 
24 hours a day in two alternating shifts on experiments covering 
astronaut health and safety, advanced technology development, and life 
and physical sciences.

The Shuttle mission is a dress rehearsal for routine research 
operations on board the International Space Station, currently being 
assembled in orbit. ESA's involvement in STS-107 is the outcome of a 
barter agreement with NASA.

"Under the barter agreement, ESA has provided NASA with an Airbus 
Super Guppy to fly large International Space Station elements across 
the US and in exchange has the opportunity to fly 450 kg of 
microgravity payload on NASA Space Shuttle missions", explains Jörg 
Feustel-Büechl, ESA's Director of Human Spaceflight.

Six of the seven ESA payloads will perform life or physical science
experiments - the Advanced Protein Crystallisation Facility (APCF), 
the Advanced Respiratory Monitoring System (ARMS), Biobox, Biopack, 
the European Research in Space and Terrestrial Osteoporosis (ERISTO) 
facility, and the Facility for Adsorption and Surface Tension studies 
(FAST).

The seventh is a technology demonstration called the Combined 2 Phase 
Loop Experiment (COM2PLEX), which will test three new heat transfer 
systems for thermal control of instruments on satellites.

"STS-107 is a very important mission for Europe. It builds on our
experience with Spacelab on dedicated Shuttle flights and will 
ultimately support longer, more ambitious research aboard the Space 
Station," said Marc Heppener, Head of ESA's International Space 
Station Utilisation and Microgravity Promotion Division.

In addition to the research being performed already aboard the
International Space Station while it is still being assembled, such
Shuttle missions are important because they allow scientists and
researchers to 'turn off' the effects of gravity and unmask basic
phenomena that play key roles in biology, physics, and chemistry.

ESA's scientific payloads are concentrated in a pressurised module 
known as Spacehab, located in the Shuttle's payload bay and connected 
to the Shuttle crew compartment by a tunnel. The concept and the 
technology of Spacehab are derived from ESA's Spacelab programme.

Europe has a long history of participation in Shuttle flights with an
emphasis on microgravity research - from the early days of Spacelab to 
the more recent Neurolab.

ESA mission manager, Pasquale Di Palermo, describes the flight as "a
valuable opportunity for Europe both to experiment in space and to 
prepare on the ground so as to be ready for full operations on board 
the Space Station".

The ESA payloads involve the crew in numerous activities - from
straightforward activation of the experiments to all procedures 
involved in their in-orbit operation including, if necessary, repair.

For ARMS in particular, the crew are actually part of the experiment 
and have undergone intensive training to ensure that they are familiar 
with the equipment and can carry out medical tests on themselves.

ARMS, on its first ever flight, is designed for respiratory and
cardiovascular monitoring in microgravity, allowing scientists to 
unveil the workings of a complex human system whose functions are 
normally masked by gravity.

By putting four crew members through a carefully controlled set of
exercise and test routines before, during and after the mission, ARMS 
will measure changes caused by the absence of gravity in their 
pulmonary and cardiovascular functions.

After the STS-107 mission, ARMS will become a key ground research tool
with exciting long-term prospects - from developing new medical 
diagnostic tools which may help doctors to determine physical fitness 
and even predict illness, through to devising new kinds of 
rehabilitation for specific illnesses.

For more information consult:
http://www.esa.int/export/esaHS/ESA1Z78708D_index_0.html
and http://www.spaceflight.esa.int/sts107


For further details contact: 
Pasquale Di Palermo
STS 107 Mission Manager
Tel: +1-281-467-1320

ESA Media Relations Service
Tel: +33(0)1.53.69.7155
Fax: +33(0)1.53.69.7690

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