...the successful completion of the 1st Interim Design Review (IDR) for the External Payload Platform (EPP). The EPP, owned and financed by NanoRacks, is designed and developed jointly by NanoRacks and Astrium. The platform is to be mounted on the exterior of the ISS and represents a first external commercial research capability for the testing of research payloads, sensors and electronic components in space.

In late September, NanoRacks and Astrium conducted an Interim Design Review (IDR-1) with the NASA/ISS Payloads community, completing this first required review of design data with the various technical and operational disciplines. The successful completion of this review characterizes the progress the EPP program has achieved since announcement. Scheduled design activity commenced in June of 2012, and opens the gate toward completion of the detailed design, with a critical design level review scheduled for April 2013.

Ron Dunklee, President and CEO of Astrium North America, Inc., said, “Based on these results, the team feels confident that we can begin preliminary fabrication activities by the first quarter of 2013 and remain on schedule to offer this one-of-a-kind commercial research capability in the first half of 2014.”