ICE Cubes installation

NASA astronaut installing the ICE Cubes commercial space service in the European space laboratory Columbus. The International Commercial Experiments service –ICE Cubes for short – offers fast, simple and affordable access for research and technology experiments in microgravity.

ICE Cubes gets its power, temperature regulation and communications from Columbus. The facility hosts experiments designed around 10 cm cubes (1U) or combinations of this volume – there is room for 12 cubes on top and two rows of four cubes below. Experiments can also float freely through the Columbus laboratory and communicate wirelessly with the facility to send experiment data to Earth.

ICE Cubes offers unprecedented 24-hour direct access to its experiments via a dedicated mission control centre at Space Applications Services’ premises in Sint-Stevens-Woluwe, Brussels. Clients can connect at any time to their experiment from their own location over internet to read the data and even send commands directly.

Visit the ICE Cubes service website for more information and contact details.