The European Drawer Rack (EDR)

Multi-discipline flexible experiment carrier in Columbus

There is a need in the scientific community for medium-sized, dedicated experiment equipment for space research to reduce research costs and development times. ESA's solution is the European Drawer Rack, which is a flexible experiment carrier for a large variety of scientific disciplines.

EDR provides the accommodation and resources to experiment modules in two types of standard ISS housings called International Subrack Interface Standard (ISIS) drawers and ISS Lockers. The facility can accommodate up to three of these drawers, each with a payload volume of 72 litres and 4 lockers, each with a payload volume of 57 litres.

This approach allows a quick turn-around capability, and provides increased flight opportunities for the user community wishing to fly payloads that do not require a complete rack.

The overall design of the facility is optimised for the parallel accommodation of three to four payloads, i.e. an average experiment payload accommodating two drawers/lockers, but both larger and smaller payloads may be accommodated.

An ISIS drawer

Resource management

The resource management covers the monitoring of resource allocations to individual payloads, but the operating concept of the European Drawer Rack assumes that payloads are largely autonomous.

The facility computer distributes ISS data to payloads and routes payload data to ground and the European Drawer Rack laptop. The European Drawer Rack data management system supports all modes of payload operation, ranging from fully automatic to step-by-step control by an astronaut.

In addition to distributing Columbus resources to the experiment modules, the European Drawer Rack provides services such as an air cooling loop and conversion of the 120 volt Columbus power standard to 28 volts.