The Columbus Control Center updates its projection with Digital Projection

To solve the problem posed by the Columbus Control Center projectors, The old equipment has been replaced by four E-Vision Laser 8500 de Digital Projection.

When the Columbus Control Center projectors (Columbus Control Center – Col-CC), responsible for the European module of the International Space Station (International Space Station – ISS), became increasingly problematic towards the end of their life cycle, la aeronáutica alemana German Center for Air- and space travel (DLR), had to choose to replace the existing equipment. After calling the tender, the E-Vision Laser projector 8500 of Digital Projection was the chosen option, installing four pieces of equipment of this model.

The E-Vision Laser projector 8500 offers 8.500 lumens from a stable solid-state light source capable of providing 20.000 hours of operation. Besides, Solid-state system eliminates lamp replacement which leads to increased costs and downtime.

These functionality that allow you a continuous execution time, combined with the 'Fit and Forget' directive’ developed for this single chip projector, ensures that only minimal maintenance is required throughout the life of the equipment. The E-Vision Laser 8500 Fits a wide range of professional locations, including environments such as mission critical control centers.

The Columbus Control Center consists of three interchangeable control rooms and operations are performed by the Columbus flight team. 24 hours, los 7 days of the week, using a room for real-time operations, another as a reserve for the operation and the third for simulation and update activities.

In the operational control room, The screens are divided into three independent segments, each of which displays unique, text-rich content. Projectors are controlled remotely through a larger management system, which also allows the supervision and control of other Col-CC subsystems.

Projector installation, initially set by Jeremy Pierce Mayer, video engineer at GMV-Insyen AG, under contract with DLR, and lead project manager for projector replacement, was carried out by the GSOC facilities team. The control center's high-paced operations environment predisposed the participating installation teams toward highly effective lines of communication that allowed any problem such as network configuration or any other obstacles to be resolved at high speed..

“Installation was simple. The projectors were installed while the control room was in operation. After initial installation and configuration, which lasted approximately four hours, configuration was completed remotely, “relying on our control room CCTV system”, afirma Jeremy Pierce Mayer.

The Columbus Control Center works closely with the NASA, RosCosmos and other private and public partners to support ISS activities. It is located inside the German Space Operations Center (GSOC). Responsible for all satellite missions, The DLR has multiple research institutes.