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In this answer I first heard about Australia's upcoming Bartolomeo platform, which will be used for testing things such as the Neumann drive.

Question: What is Australia's Bartolomeo platform? When does it arrive at the ISS? When and where will it be attached?

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Bartolomeo is not Australian but European. It's a platform designed by Airbus DS. It will be installed outside the Columbus laboratory on the COL-EPF (Columbus Laboratory Module Exposed Payload Facility).

This platform will be installed, serviced and operated in a collaborative public-private utilization scheme with ESA, NASA, and other partners in the ISS program.

The Australian FAST mission is a payload on this platform. FAST is organized by Neumann Space - they needed some space on the Bartolomeo platform to test their ion drive and bought more space than they needed. FAST allows other companies to 'rideshare' small experiments with Neumann's ion drive.

Companies and institutions buy space on Bartolomeo, Airbus DS handles the launch, installation etc.

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  • $\begingroup$ This platform is really neat. Glad to see ESA building out their part of the ISS. Thanks for question and answer. $\endgroup$ – Organic Marble May 11 '18 at 15:22

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