The European Space Agency's (ESA) European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) was designed to
be launched from the USA Space Shuttle, retrieved from another space shuttle flight 6 to 9
months later, refurbished on the ground and re-flown on another shuttle flight. The first
mission (EURECA-1), launched from STS 46 and retrieved by STS 57, was primarily devoted to
research in materials and life sciences and radiobiology, all requiring a controlled
microgravity environment. Experiments were also conducted in earth science, solar physics,
space physics and astrophysics.
EURECA was made of high-strength carbon-fibre struts and titanium nadal points joined
together to form a framework of cubic elements. Thermal control on EURECA combined both
active and passive heat transfer and radiation systems. Active heat transfer was achieved
by means of a freon cooling loop which dissipitated the thermal load through two radiators
into space. The passive system made use of multilayer insulation blankets combined with
electrical heaters.
The electrical subsystem was powered by deployable and retractable solar arrays
together with four 40 amp-hour nickel-cadmium batteries. When EURECA was in the Shuttle
cargo bay, power was supplied by the Shuttle. The modular attitude and orbit control
subsystem (AOCS) maintained attitude and spacecraft orientation and stabilization. An
orbit transfer assembly, consisting of four thrusters, was used to boost EURECA to its
operational attitude (515 km) and return it to retrievable orbit (about 300 km).
EURECA was three-axis stabilized by means of a magnetic torque assembly together with a
nitrogen reaction contral assembly (RCA). Data handling was carried out by EURECAs data
handling subsystem (DHS) supported by telemetry and telecommand subsystems providing the
link to the ground station.
EURECA was attached to the Shuttle cargo bay by means of a three-point latching system.
EURECA operations were controlled by ESA's Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Germany. The
EURECA project was sponsored by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). EURECA was developed under
ESA contracts with aerospace firms in Germany, Italy, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands,
and France.
EURECA 1 consisted of 15 experiments:
- Solution Growth Facility (SGF) (Belgium);
- Protein Crystallization Facility (PCF) (Germany);
- Exobiology and Radiation Assembly (ERA) (Germany);
- Multi-Furnace Assembly (MFA) (Italy);
- Automatic Mirror Furnace (AMF) (Germany);
- Surface Forces Adhesion Instrument (SFA) (Italy);
- High Precision Thermostat Instrument(HPT) (Germany);
- Solar Constant and Variability Instrument (SOVA) (Belgium);
- Solar Spectrum Instrument (SOSP) (France);
- Occultation Radiometer Instrument (ORI) (Belgium);
- Wide Angle Telescope (WATCH) (Denmark);
- Timeband Capture Cell Experiment (TICCE) (Great Britian);
- Radio Frequency Ionization Thruster Assembly (RITA) (Germany);
- Inter-Orbit Communications (IOC) (France/the Netherlands);
- Advanced Solar Gallium Arsenide Array (ASGA) (Italy).
Two more missions with different exeperiments, Eureca 2 and 3, were planned for 1995 and 1998, but were cancelled.
Eureca 2 was to carry following payloads:
- the Automated Mirror Furnace (AMF) as described for Eureca-1 (1992 049B);
- the Multi Furnace Assembly (MFA) as described for Eureca-1 (1992 049B);
- the Solution Growth Facility (SGF) as described for Eureca-1 (1992 049B);
- the Surface Adhesion Forces (SAF) experiment to study the dependence of surface forces and interface energies;
- the Protein Crystallisation Facility (PCF) as described for Eureca-1 (1992 049B);
- the Exobiology and Radiation Assembly (ERA) as described for Eureca-1 (1992 049B);
- the Solar Constant and Variability Instrument (SOVA) as described for Eureca-1 (1992 049B);
- the Advanced Solar Gallium Arsenide Array (ASGA) as described for Eureca-1 (1992 049B);.
- a botany facility for plant growth;
- the Space Particle Intact Capture Experiment (SPICE);
- the Synoptic Monitoring of Orbital Debris (SYNMOD);
- the International Diffuse EUV Spectrometer (IDES);
- the Measurement of Orbit Atoms and Molecules (MAM);
- the Plasma Electron Gun Payload (PLEGPAY);
- the Optical Fibres In Space experiment; and
- the European Science and Exposure Facility (ESTEF), a small platform for a variety of exposure experiments