Experimental facilities for scientific use

© EADS Astrium

Researchers have always sought to eliminate the effects of gravity to study the structures and processes of materials, or to better understand the complexity of the human body. EADS Astrium has created microgravity research instruments for hundreds of different experiments on-board the Shuttle, Spacelab, Spacehab, Mir, orbiting capsules and sounding rockets. ESA, the French space agency (CNES) and the German space agency (DLR) chose Astrium to design experimental equipment for various ISS modules: Biolab, the material science laboratory (MSL), the European modular cultivation system for plant research (EMCS), the Cardiolab equipment and the LBNP (lower body negative pressure) for human physiology research, the DECLIC facility for research on critical transparent media, the protein crystallisation and diagnostics facility PCDF and the atomic clock ensemble in space (ACES).

The microgravity science glovebox (MSG) used to safely manipulate sensitive or toxic materials and substances, has been in continuous use in orbit since 2002.

All current specific experiment hardware development contracts, namely in biology, material sciences and fluid physics, were won in competition by Astrium.