Science Power Platform

The Science Power Platform (SPP) ( _ru. Научно-энергетическая платформа) was a planned Russian element of the International Space Station (ISS) that was intended to be delivered to the ISS by a Russian Proton rocket or Zenit rocket (it was originally designed to be part of Mir-2) but was shifted to launch by Space Shuttle as part as a tradeoff agreement on other parts of the ISS. It would have provided additional power for the ISS as well as roll axis control capability for the orbital facility. The SPP would have had eight solar arrays and a robotic arm provided by the European Space Agency (ESA) dedicated to maintaining the SPP. The robotic arm (European Robotic Arm) is still going to be part of the station, now scheduled to fly alongside the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module by a Russian Proton rocket in 2008.

An agreement was reached in March 2006 by the Russians and NASA in order to provide part of the power the Russian segments need from the four American solar arrays. Originally the SPP should have made the power supply of the four Russian modules independent from the power supply of the rest of the station. The already-made pressurised hull of a static test article for this component is now being used for the Russian Docking Cargo Module, which is scheduled to launch on STS-131 in 2010. It will be docked to the Zarya nadir port.