The ESA payloads for Columbus--a bridge between the ISS and exploration.

As part of the European contribution to the International Space Station (ISS) Programme, ESA has developed a number of complex, pressurised and unpressurised payloads for conducting scientific investigations in a variety of disciplines, such as the life and physical sciences, technology and space science. The majority of these payloads will already be installed in ESA's Columbus Laboratory when it is launched in 2006. Many of them are ready for flight, whilst the others are approaching final acceptance.

Hexapod.

SAGE III (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment), an Earth-observation instrument developed by NASA's Langley Research Center (LaRC), was one of the first scientific external payloads selected for the International Space Station. It was conceived to fly on a spacecraft able to provide +/- 1 degree pointing accuracy. Since the ISS's attitude can vary by several degrees over a long period, it was therefore necessary to provide a dedicated nadir-pointing system.