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The payload originally consisted of two independent modules, EXPOSE and Sky Polarization Observatory (SPOrt).

• EXPOSE was a facility holding multiple exobiology experiments that study the photo-processing of organic molecules and the survival of micro-organisms in space, as well as the effect of solar UV on unshielded organic molecules and micro-organisms. The EXPOSE experiment had 12 sample compartments; each held a sample carrier. EXPOSE was placed in 2008 on an external platform on the Columbus – External Payload Facility where it remained for 1.5 years.^[4]
• The second instrument, Sky Polarization Observatory, was an Italian astrophysical instrument to measure celestial polarisation range of 20–90 GHz.^[5] SPOrt goals included the first polarisation map of the Milky Way galaxy at the unexplored microwave frequencies of 22, 32 & 60 GHz and all-sky measurements in the cosmological window (90 GHz) with unprecedented sensitivity.^[4] However, due to the project's reliance on the Space Shuttle, and the setback of the Columbia disaster, the observatory was canceled in 2005.^[6]

• Bion
• BIOPAN
• Biosatellite program
• O/OREOS
• Scientific research on the ISS

• SPOrt Homepage
• SPOrt page at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics

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