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General Description
The MPLM, a reusable logistics carrier, will be the primary delivery system used to resupply and return station cargo requiring a pressurized environment. It is one of Italy's major contributions to the International Space Station Program. The cylindrical module is approximately 21 feet long and 15 feet in diameter, weighting almost 4.5 tons excluding its capability to hold up to 20,000 pounds of contents. Launched in the Space Shuttle's payload bay, it will be docked to the International Space Station once on orbit. It will transport supplies, science experiments, spare parts and other logistical components to the International Space Station. (November 25, 1998, KSC Contact: George H. Diller, KSC Release No. 146-98, LEONARDO MPLM TRANSFER CEREMONY TO BE HELD AT KSC DEC. 3)
The MPLM was an element planned in the Space Station Freedom design and carried through the Alpha and ISS designs. The MPLM is required deliver the standard sized racks of equipment to the US, European and Japanese modules of the space station. The shuttle's hatchways are too small for the standard rack design, and after the addition of Russia to the ISS and use of the APAS-89 docking system also is too small to allow racks to pass between the shuttle and ISS. This also means that standard racks can't be moved to the Russian segment of the ISS becuase they would have to pass into the FGB which also uses the APAS-89 docking system.
So MPLM's are attached to the ISS modules directly to transfer racks in and out of the ISS. Since the mission of the MPLM's is short, they are equipped with minimal life support systems with no back up systems since its considered a low probability that the systems will fail within severtal days in such a way to make the MPLM completely uninhabitable, perhapse uncomfortable at most.
Three MPLM's have been constructed to service the ISS. The MPLM design was also reused in the ESA's Columbus Orbital Facility lab module to be added to the ISS in the future. The MPLM design also was adopted for US Nodes-2 and 3 which are being contributed by the ESA to the US station as payment for the launch of the COF lab module on the shuttle. The MPLM design is generally considered to be superior to the US Boeing designed modules like Node-1 and the US Lab.
The MPLM should not be confused with the future Japanese provided Experiment Logistics Module which will be docked to the Japanese Kibo lab module.
Details of Environmental Control & Life Support system of the MPLM (MPLS98.PDF)
The cylindrical module is approximately 21 feet long and 15 feet in diameter, weighing almost 4.5 tons, excluding up to 20,000 pounds of contents. "Leonardo" is being processed at Kennedy's Space Station Processing Facility with engineering support from the Italian Space Agency, Alenia Aerospazio and Boeing. Among the activities necessary for the payload test team to prepare the module for launch are integrated electrical tests with other station elements in the facility, leak tests, electrical and software compatibility tests with the Space Shuttle using the Cargo Integrated Test Equipment, and an Interface Verification Test once the module is installed in the Space Shuttle's payload bay at the launch pad. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, provided the module's hardware development engineering oversight. The most significant mechanical task to be performed on "Leonardo" in Kennedy's facility is the installation and outfitting of the racks for carrying the various experiments and cargo. The module will provide interfaces for up to 16 racks, five of which also furnish power, data and fluid support to a refrigerator freezer. The racks will be installed into the module using an efficient piece of robotic equipment called the "Rack Insertion Device." This device was developed by Kennedy engineers for fast and easy installation and removal of the racks for rapid turnaround of the logistics module between missions. (August 3, 1998, KSC Contact: George H. Diller, Release No. 98-142, "LEONARDO" ARRIVES AT NASA'S KENNEDY SPACE CENTER)
Images from NASA, ESA, NASDA, CSA, RSA
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