EXPORT

EXPORT is an exobiology project led by the European Space Agency,^[1] that deployed an external module to the International Space Station to study the photo-processing of organic molecules and the survival of some micro-organisms, as well as the effect of solar UV on unshielded organic molecules and micro-organisms while exposed to outer space.^[2]^[3]

Payload[edit]

The payload originally consisted of two independent modules, EXPOSE and Sky Polarization Observatory (SPOrt).

EXPOSE was a facility holding multiple exobiology experiments that study the photo-processing of organic molecules and the survival of micro-organisms in space, as well as the effect of solar UV on unshielded organic molecules and micro-organisms. The EXPOSE experiment had 12 sample compartments; each held a sample carrier. EXPOSE was placed in 2008 on an external platform on the Columbus – External Payload Facility where it remained for 1.5 years.^[4]
The second instrument, Sky Polarization Observatory, was an Italian astrophysical instrument to measure celestial polarisation range of 20–90 GHz.^[5] SPOrt goals included the first polarisation map of the Milky Way galaxy at the unexplored microwave frequencies of 22, 32 & 60 GHz and all-sky measurements in the cosmological window (90 GHz) with unprecedented sensitivity.^[4] However, due to the project's reliance on the Space Shuttle, and the setback of the Columbia disaster, the observatory was canceled in 2005.^[6]

^ "EXPORT". European Space Agency. Archived from the original on 2007-05-05. Retrieved 2014-01-10.
^ Rabbow, Elke; Horneck, Gerda; Rettberg, Petra; Schott, Jobst-Ulrich; Panitz, Corinna; L’Afflitto, Andrea; von Heise-Rotenburg, Ralf; Willnecker, Reiner; Baglioni, Pietro; Hatton, Jason; Dettmann, Jan; Demets, René; Reitz, Günther (9 July 2009). "EXPOSE, an Astrobiological Exposure Facility on the International Space Station - from Proposal to Flight" (PDF). Orig Life Evol Biosph. 39 (6): 581–98. Bibcode:2009OLEB...39..581R. doi:10.1007/s11084-009-9173-6. PMID 19629743. S2CID 19749414. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 2013-07-08.
^ Olsson-Francis, Karen; Cockell, Charles S. (23 October 2009). "Experimental methods for studying microbial survival in extraterrestrial environments" (PDF). Journal of Microbiological Methods. 80 (1): 1–13. doi:10.1016/j.mimet.2009.10.004. PMID 19854226. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 September 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
^ ^a ^b Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES). "EXPOSE - home page". Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
^ S. Cortiglioni; B. Negri (2004), "The Sky Polarization Observatory (SPOrt)", New Astronomy, 9 (4): 297–327, arXiv:astro-ph/0401193, Bibcode:2004NewA....9..297C, doi:10.1016/j.newast.2003.11.004, S2CID 119349964
^ "SPOrt Programme" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2014-01-10.

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