Up to Space - Columbus

THE REplica

More than 400 km above us is the ISS (International Space Station), the largest object orbiting the Earth. Dozens of nations have worked together to build the ISS module by module and to integrate its various parts in orbit. The Columbus laboratory, one of ESA (European Space Agency) biggest contributions to this global space cooperation programme, was added to the ISS in 2008.

Outside the Pavilion of Knowledge, you can visit a replica of the Columbus module, designed and built by students from Colégio Salesianos de Lisboa, as part of ESA's AstroPi project.

IT department

Programming and assembly of Astro PI, which collected data inside the module (pressure, temperature, light, etc.)

Visual Arts Course

Design and scenography of the module replica

Department of Philosophy and Psychology, with support from DPNE

Similar experience and collection of data relating to human performance and the impact of sleep.

Department of Physics and Chemistry

Monitoring air quality inside the module and installing safety equipment.

Maintenance team

Module construction.

Hospital da Luz

Supply of equipment for recording sleep (polysomnography) and analyzing them.

With collaboration of:

Alice Martins, Ana Aguiar, António Martins, Beatriz Castro, Benedita Lobo, Benedita Paulo, Bia Bettencourt, Carmo Gago, Carolina Loesch, Carolina Teixeira, Catarina Martins, Célio Correia, Clara Bernardino, David Quaresma, Diogo Barbosa, Diogo Santos, Duarte Cruz, Emilia Dias, Ester Antunes, Filipa Pinto, Francisco Antunes, Francisco Caldas, Francisco Gonçalves, Francisco Mendonça, Guilherme Henriques, Inês Xu, Jessica Justino, Joana Delgado, Jorge Branquinho, José Pinheiro, Leonor Bastos, Leonor Beatriz, Leonor Rato, Leonor Serpa, Luís Costa, Madalena Marques, Madalena Raposo, Manuel Pereira, Margarida Pedreira, Maria Lousan, Maria Monteiro, Maria Pinto, Maria Ribeiro, Marta Dias, Matilde Aires, Matilde Barata, Matilde Fernandes, Matilde Figueiredo, Matilde Warburton, Miguel Silva, Onara Magalhães, Pedro Bulha, Pedro Manso, Pedro Martins, Pedro Moreira, Rosarinho Simões, Rui Costa, Rui Dias, Sara Figueira, Teresa D´Alte, Teresa Silva, Tiago Lopes, Vasco Garcia

From Hercules to Morpheus

Like Columbus, this replica was used as a laboratory by school teams to carry out scientific experiments on human performance in Space (Hercules and Morpheus projects).

What are the missions of this crew?

Hercules - Study of human performance in confined and isolated spaces

Morpheus - Study of the impact of sleep on human performance

Astronauts for 24 hours

The volunteer students remained for periods of 24 hours inside the module, in total isolation, simulating life on board a Space mission. Just like astronauts, the tasks they performed, their work schedules, as well as their rest and meal times were monitored by another team of students “on the ground”, according to a pre-established schedule. In total, the experiment took place for 96 consecutive hours. In the end, the collected data was compiled and sent to ASTRO PI / ESA.