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Carriers
The Payload Carrier is a general purpose mounting platform for use in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle. The Multi-Purpose Logistics Module is a pressurized logistic system that will be used in the International Space Station program for the two-way transport of supplies and materials (up to 9,000kg).Payload Carrier
The Payload Carrier hardware was built by the European Space Agency and given to NASA via a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). It has been flown on the Space Shuttle many times since 1983. It allows payloads to be exposed to the vacuum of space. It is also the optimum carrier for cargo items because it maximizes use of the Shuttle's curved Orbiter Cargo Bay. It provides the services to make the Shuttle compatible with cargo items.The pallet attaches to the Orbiter cargo bay via four longeron trunnions and one keel trunnion and provides the primary structural support for all subsystem and payload hardware. The payload hardware is integrated on the pallet at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), checked out, and integrated into the Orbiter.
The modular design of the pallet (up to 5 pallets) allows for a large variety of flight configurations. The pallets are approximately 3 meters long and 4 meters wide. The pallet is an unpressurized platform to which instruments such as telescopes and antennas may be mounted which require direct exposure to space. The pallet provides basic services, such as power distribution, heat rejection, data acquisition, and commands. It is carried to and from orbit by the Space Shuttle.
The U-shape pallets are covered with aluminum honeycomb panels. They are an integral part of the pallet structure, but can also be used for mounting of lightweight payload equipment. A series of hardpoints attached to the main structure of a pallet are provided for the mounting of heavy payload equipment. The pallets are mounted to the Orbiter with a set of attach fittings. Up to three pallets may be structurally linked together to form a pallet train and attached to the Orbiter by a single set of attach fittings. Up to five pallets may be flown on a single mission.
The Payload Carriers Program has additional payload carriers including Get-Away-Specials (GAS), Hitchhikers, Flight Service System (FSS), Multi-purpose Experiment Support Structure (MPESS) pallet, Multiplexer-Demultiplexer (MDM) pallet, and several other combinations of support bridges and mounting structures.
The usefulness of the pallet hardware and the derivatives is unmatched and provides fast, economical access to the Shuttle Cargo bay.
MPLM
The MPLM is both a cargo carrier and a space station module when it is flown aboard the Shuttle. Mounted in the Space Shuttle's cargo bay for launch and landing, it is berthed to the station using the Shuttle's robotic arm after the Shuttle has docked. While berthed to the station, racks of equipment are unloaded from the module and then old racks and equipment may be reloaded to be taken back to Earth. The MPLM is also designed to support active and passive storage and to provide a habitable environment for two people while in orbit. Each MPLM has been designed to fly 25 times over a period of ten years. It is the first space station module being designed as an active module in the Shuttle payload bay.The MPLM is approximately 21 feet long and 15 feet in diameter, weighing almost 4.5 tons. It can carry up to 10 tons of cargo packed into 16 standard space station equipment racks.
The MPLM is a joint venture between NASA and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). ASI's contractor, Alenia, is building a total of three MPLMs. They have built "Leonardo" and "Rafaello" and "Donnatello" is under construction in Italy.
Construction of Leonardo began in April 1996 at the Alenia Aerospazio factory in Turin, Italy and was delivered to Kennedy from Italy in August 1998 by a special Beluga cargo aircraft. Construction of Rafaello was completed and delivered to Kennedy in August 1999. Donnatello is scheduled for delivery to Kennedy in 2000.
The Italian Space Agency chose the names of the modules to denote some of the great talents in Italian history: Leonardo da Vinci, an extraordinary inventor-scientist, civil engineer, architect, military planner and weapons designer, and artist; Donato di Niccolo de Betto Bardi, one of the greatest sculptors of all time and one of the founders of modern sculpture; and Raffaello Sanzio, an artist whose work stands alone for its visual achievement of human grandeur, both in clarity of form and ease of composition.