Remote operations of experiments on Columbus

The authors report on work carried out on behalf of ESA to study the implementation of telescience concepts and the requirements set by remote, interactive operations of experiments on the Columbus Attached Pressurised Module, planned as a laboratory module mainly devoted to microgravity experiments, to be integrated with other modules provided by NASA and Japan on the Space Station. The term telescience has been put forward in the US to describe the interactive operation of payloads in space, in order to emphasise that remote operations need to be implemented to make scientific research on the Space Station more effective by involving ground-based research teams directly in the conduct of investigations