Second day of Columbus specialist training with crewmate Butch.
Yesterday I mentioned that we have to rotate racks out of the way sometimes to access hardware. One example is the Columbus port endcone, which contains a lot of critical ECLSS equipment.
ECLSS is the Environmental Control and Life Support System. The ECLSS in Columbus is highly integrated with the rest of the ISS and does not have an autonomous capability of air revitalization, meaning CO2 scrubbing and oxygen introduction. That’s not a problem, though, because many fans at the module interfaces force air to circulate throughout Station.
Columbus does have its own air conditioning system though. Condensate heat exchangers, that cool down and dehumidify the cabin air, are in the Deck1 rack that Butch and I rotated up in the picture. The endcone equipment in front of us is mainly redundant cabin fans with their filters and ducting.
Also hidden down there are several shut-off valves that allow for interruption of the fluid exchange between Columbus and the rest of ISS: the nitrogen supply lines for our experiment racks, for example, but also the condensate line that brings back the water recovered from the cabin air for reprocessing in Node3.
If we had to isolate Columbus for a contingency situation we would have to close those valves. Luckily they are motorized and can be controlled remotely, but if the motor failed we would have to rotate the rack and dive in the belly of Columbus to actuate them manually!
In the Deck1 rack.
10/09/2013