European External Payloads Selected for Early Utilisation on the International Space Station

R.D. Andresen & G. Peters

The external sites of the International Space Station (ISS) have huge utilisation potential for many different space disciplines. As a platform in a high-inclination, low Earth orbit and with a lifetime of 15 years or more, the ISS will provide payload mass, volume, power and communications capabilities far exceeding those of free-flying satellites. Every three months, the Space Shuttle and other servicing vehicles (ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle, Progress, etc.) will take astronauts, new equipment and stocks of consumables up to the ISS.
The external payloads selected for the ISS assembly phase represent first-class science, as is demonstrated for example by the fact that two Nobel Prize winners are involved in two of the experiment teams (for ACES and AMS). Another payload (GTS) offers commercial services in the fields of protection against car theft, and wristwatch accuracy control.