On April 23rd 2002, at Alenia Spazio's site in Turin, the Test Review Board successfully concluded the verification campaign for the Engineering Module of the Fluid Science Laboratory (FSL).
The test activities, run over nearly nine months, covered all the typical aspects of EM verification: from subsystem integration testing to system function tests; from performance measurement to electromagnetic compatibility testing for conduction.
A temperature functional test was also run to verify the optical and mechanical stability of the interferometric instruments. The positive outcome validated the design of the complete facility.
Alenia Spazio is developing the FSL for the European Space Agency (ESA) at the head of a European industrial consortium with overall responsibility for the design, integration and qualification of the laboratory.
The FSL is one of the major new-generation laboratories for the International Space Station (ISS) and will permit research into Fluid Physics under microgravity conditions. It will be integrated and operated inside the Columbus laboratory starting from 2004 and Alenia Spazio is also responsible for its maintenance throughout its 10-year operational life.
Although the results of the EM verification still have to undergo post-test analysis, they have already demonstrated the validity of the system design and allowed ESA to give the go-ahead for the production and integration of the Flight Model. Finalisation and delivery of this is foreseen for the middle of next year.
While waiting for the delivery of the flight units of the various subsystems, Alenia Spazio's FSL activities will be focused on the integration and testing of the Science Reference Model (SRM) and the finalisation of the design of the Training Model.
-ends- Fluid Science Laboratory : Engineering Model Concludes Test Campaign
