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The study led by C. Peromingo, P. Salgado Sánchez, D. Gligor, A. Bello, and J. Rodríguez, published in Physics of Fluids (2023), addresses innovative methods to reduce sloshing in microgravity environments. Simulations were conducted to identify the optimal shape, number, and arrangement of baffles in a rectangular tank. Additionally, temperature modulation was introduced to counteract the original sloshing motion.

Findings: The findings demonstrated that the ideal combination of baffles and temperature modulation reduced sloshing decay time by over 80%. This strategy showed significant potential to enhance liquid stability in microgravity environments.

Applications and Significance: The developed methods have potential applications across various domains, from propulsion systems and water storage in space missions to terrestrial uses, including liquid transport in trucks, manned and unmanned aerial vehicles, and offshore oil extraction plants.

Conclusions: The study highlights the importance of innovative techniques in controlling sloshing in microgravity, underscoring their relevance not only in space missions but also in numerous terrestrial systems.

Cross-shaped baffles

You can also read here the AIP article.

La entrada Slowing sloshing in space: Exploring innovative techniques aparece primero en E-USOC.

Úrsula Martínez, PhD student and researcher at E-USOC, preparing the scientific sample in its cartridge for later coupling and process in the Transparent Alloys instrument during experiment preparation on ground.

The experiment was proposed by Access e.V (RWTH Aachen University) researchers, Gerhard Zimmermann and Laszlo Sturz, to the European Space Agency (ESA) and will be executed during the April-June 2022 period in the U.S Laboratory inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG). The experiment had previously arrived in the Cygnus NG-17 capsule.

E-USOC is responsible for the execution of the science campaign on board the International Space Station as well as its previous preparation on ground. We define all the documentation needed to perform the experiment’s operations, that is, the system procedures and the execution scripts. The procedures indicate how to command the experiment and establish the operations plan while the scripts are the way we tell the experiment, through software, the scientific test we want to perform. The main parameters used for this experiment are the solidification velocity and the thermal gradient applied in order to study their influence on the solidification process. Apart from performing science and in collaboration with NASA’s Payloads Operations Integration Center (POIC), we prepare the procedures that astronauts must follow for the experiment installation in MSG and we monitor the actual installation to give support and ensure that everything goes as planned. We also develop the planification products so that the resources used during the execution are optimized.

Matthias Maurer, ESA’s astronaut, with the Transparent Alloys instrument after its successful installation in MSG. Credits ESA and NASA

The Transparent Alloys series that E-USOC prepares and executes consists of five experiments being CETSOL-1 the fourth of them. Usually, the study of the characteristic structures that grow during the solidification of metals is done through destructive techniques or via X-ray after the solidification is completed. The technology implemented in the transparent alloys instrument makes it possible to observe this process in real time, giving the science community valuable information on how metal alloys behave during solidification that could be used, for example, to improve and optimize industrial procedures. The transparent Alloys experiments are SEBA1 (2018), SETA (2020), METCOMP (2021), CETSOL-1 (2022) and CETSOL-2 (planned on 2024), and each one of them has specific objectives to characterize the different microstructures, growing dynamics and parameters that intervene in the solidification process.

Microstructure developed during a directional solidification of the CETSOL-1 experiment. Credits CETSOL-team (PI Access e.V.).

The installation of CETSOL-1 was successful and science runs are being currently executed. Microgravity experiments are of great use for the science community and the E-USOC will keep preparing, executing and supporting these experiments.

La entrada A new International Space Station experiment has been successfully installed: CETSOL-1 operations begin NOW! aparece primero en E-USOC.

The METCOMP (Metastable Solidification of Composites: Novel Peritectic Structures and In-Situ Composites) experiment was a difficult one, but the scientists managed to fulfil all the objectives, and we will soon have a METCOMP-2 to process the samples that could not be uploaded this time.

The METCOMP research focuses on layered structures in peritectic systems. The investigations of peritectic metallic systems show a wide range of possible microstructures: bands, islands, tree-like microstructures and coupled growth appear when the primary and peritectic phase solidify in a competitive manner. On Earth all these microstructures are highly influenced by convection and undercooling due to gravity. Therefore, micro-g experiments are necessary to determine the influence of natural convection on the microstructure evolution.

Specific goals of the experiment:

La entrada The E-USOC finalizes the execution of its fifteenth experiment on-board the ISS aparece primero en E-USOC.

La idea científica surge de la necesidad de ofrecer nuevas y mejores soluciones a los problemas de almacenamiento de energía y control de la temperatura en el espacio. Dado que los materiales de cambio de fase (PCM) orgánicos comunes suelen estar limitados por su baja conductividad térmica, este proyecto investigará estrategias de baja masa y bajo coste para mejorar el transporte de calor aprovechando la convección de Marangoni (termocapilar), que es el único mecanismo natural disponible (pasivo) capaz de generar una convección significativa en entornos de microgravedad. El mecanismo de convección de Marangoni se complementará con mezclas de PCM y micro/nanopartículas o cápsulas adecuadamente diseñadas.

Aunque se espera que los resultados sean de especial interés para la industria aeroespacial, donde las variaciones de temperatura no deseadas son un problema grave, y las soluciones pasivas de baja masa tienen claras ventajas, sin duda también serán útiles para una serie de aplicaciones de PCM en tierra. Los experimentos espaciales como MarPCM suelen tener un impacto significativo, tanto por impulsar el progreso tecnológico necesario para su realización, como por proporcionar datos científicos y conocimientos físicos que no pueden adquirirse en tierra.

La gestión de la energía es un problema acuciante tanto en la Tierra como en el espacio, y se espera que los dispositivos PCM contribuyan al esfuerzo por mejorar la eficiencia y reducir el calor residual en una amplia gama de aplicaciones, desde el almacenamiento de alimentos hasta el acondicionamiento térmico de espacios habitados o de los paneles solares. Los resultados de este proyecto tendrán implicaciones para los diseños de PCM, no sólo en el espacio, sino también en gravedad normal, ya que el efecto Marangoni, y las micro/nanopartículas, pueden usarse para aumentar significativamente el transporte de calor.

Este proyecto va a proporcionar incomparables oportunidades de formación a los estudiantes del Grado en Ingeniería Aeroespacial (GIA), del Máster Universitario en Ingeniería Aeronáutica (MUIA), y del Programa de Doctorado de la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Aeronáutica y del Espacio (ETSIAE).

Este será primer experimento científico desarrollado íntegramente en España para ser ejecutado en la Estación Espacial Internacional, gracias al apoyo del Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico e Industrial (CDTI).

Prueba conceptual del experimento en geometría cilíndrica

La entrada La ESA ha aprobado la ejecución en la Estación Espacial Internacional de un experimento íntegramente español liderado por el E-USOC aparece primero en E-USOC.

Crew intalling the cartidge with the scientific material in the MSG laboratory (NASA credits)

The E-USOC has received the flight HDDs from the SETA (Solidification along a Eutectic Path in Ternary Alloys) experiment successfully executed on board the ISS in March-April 2020. The data contained in the disks has been processed and provided to the science team through the HRE Data Archive.

SETA was the second experiment successfully performed by the E-USOC using the Transparent Alloys instrument. The aim of the experiment was to study the pattern formation during univariant eutectic reaction in directional solidification in transparent ternary alloys.

This space experiments under microgravity enabled, for the first time, the observation of the dynamics of the pattern formation in an univariant two-phase eutectic alloy. The results will be used to improve and validate numerical simulations of the eutectic microstructure formation in a ternary alloy using the inhouse, phase-field code MICRESS.

The main specific goals are:

La entrada The E-USOC finalizes the data processing of the SETA experiment executed on-board the ISS aparece primero en E-USOC.

The QB50 mission consists of a network of 36 CubeSats that will study the properties of the lower thermosphere. QBITO was deployed from the ISS at an initial circular orbit of 420 km altitude and 51° inclination. Due to atmospheric drag, its orbit will decay until the spacecraft burn in the atmosphere approximately in 6 months.

Successful 3rd #QB50 #Cubesat deployment of today! Congratulations to ES01 (QBITO), FI01 (Aalto-2) and AU01 (SUSat) teams!

Nuestra enhorabuena al @eusoc por un nuevo hito en la misión #QB50 el lanzamiento del #Cubesat #QBITO ha sido un éxito. #somosUPM

Aquí podemos ver el lanzamiento del primer #Cubesat de @La_UPM. #QBITO siendo inyectado en órbita desde la #ISS. Orgullosos del @eusoc.

La entrada QBITO has been successfully deployed! aparece primero en E-USOC.

This knowledge is valuable for developing an effective use of plants in life support systems in space, including on the Moon and Mars. It also has a strong relevance for improving crop species on earth to obtain increased production and sustainability.

Source: NASA

The experiment will be conducted with different genotypes of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana in experimental unique containers placed in the EMCS on the International Space Station. The experiment containers contain white, blue and red lights that can be controlled from ground to expose the plants to different kinds of light. By using the two centrifuges in the EMCS, it is possible to carry out the experiment in microgravity and fractional gravity along with the 1-g control within the same space environment. For Seedling Growth-3, the samples will be subjected to 1g, 0,3g and 0g. Following a six day time course in the EMCS, the samples will be either frozen or chemically fixed and returned to the investigators for analysis. Additionally, images will be taken throughout the whole experiment and downloaded real time

The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected NTE-SENER’s proposal for the design, development, manufacturing and verification activities for the procurement of the Fixation Box (FixBox) for a vegetal biology experiment in the International Space Station (ISS).

The equipment’s complexity lies in the integration of the five cassettes with the seeds within a very restricted space (compatible with different ISS freezers, as well as an automatic mechanism for the fixation injection).

Source: SENER

La entrada Seedling Growth-3: An experiment with a Spanish principal investigator and Spanish technology aparece primero en E-USOC.

Images from the parabolic flights. Source: NoveSpace

Convection, a well-known phenomenon on Earth and used in several applications, disappears in weightless environments. In this sense, the solid-liquid interface of a system evolves in a larger timescale and thus, it complicates heat evacuation. In the presence of a free surface, however, a surface tension gradient exists due to the thermal difference and helps heat transfer in this region. Understand and exploit this effect, known as Marangoni effect, is crucial in some particular cases. TePim team pretends to analyze its potential application for phase change materials (PCM) which are widely used in space thermal control systems.

The absence of the large scale force of gravity permits the existence of new fluid configurations, like bubbles or drops, and complicates their management, which is a crucial tasks in life support systems or fuel tanks, among others. Some high consumption power systems have already been used to handle this problem with obvious disadvantages. In the last few decades, however, vibrations have been shown to be an alternative as a source of artificial gravity. CFVib team aims to understand the complex behavior of fluids in microgravity and the potential use of such vibrations to control fluids deliberately in different containers by means of a piezoelectric-based forcing mechanism.

“Microgravity and having our experiment in ZERO g were two of the most wonderful experiences of our life. We are looking forward to see the science results”, said Jose Javier Fernandez, team leader of CFVib. Despite further develop is needed, some intriguing results have been obtained from the 65th ESA Parabolic Flight campaign where the first CFVib and TePim experiment set-ups have flown.

We want to thank ESA, the ESA Education Office and ELGRA for the opportunity to participate in this amazing experience and their valuable scientific support. Thanks also to Novespace for their technical advice and contribution during all the project, and Trenz Electronic, their Analog Discovery device has been crucial in the success of the experiment. Thanks to Krytox Performance Lubricants, a business of The Chemours Company for supply of PFPE test fluid. Finally, all our thanks to the E-USOC, ETSIAE and UPM that have been supporting from the beginning.

La entrada Great experience of both research teams in the 65th ESA Parabolic Flight Campaign aparece primero en E-USOC.

In her own words “[…] I think it´s really incredible science so I’m looking forward to DCMIX team […] thank you guys I hope you get some cool results. […]“

Wilco! Thanks to you Kate, you are indeed our rock star!

Source: NASA

– [Kate Rubins] Copy Houston…And Hunstville Station on Space to Ground 2 for SODI.

– [Paycom] With you on 2, Kate.

– [Kate Rubins] I just wanted to let you know the photos are available for downlink on SSC20 and Andria, you are an absolute rock star! Thank you for being a fantastic PAYCOM, and getting us through a complex and very cool set up today and I just want to take a moment to say thank you to the all of the folks at Hunstville that are doing operations, the SODI team, the MSG team. You guys are really impressive with what you’re able to do with these procedures. It’s really smooth getting the stuff in, even when we hit a little snag we figure it out quickly, and I think it´s really incredible science so I’m looking forward to the DCMIX team. I’m not exactly an expert on tripartite hydrocarbon mixtures but, it’s very cool. I’ve actually been reading up on it because it’s so interesting. I didn’t know a lot about thermodiffusion, on how microgravity affects thermodynamic modelling, but it´s really a fascinating example of the kind of variety of science we have up here so thank you guys, I hope you get some cool results. And also to Munich, to Uwe. Thank you very much for the training at EAC. I still remember that class and that helped me out a lot with the big picture today. So I appreciate it, to all those folks.

– [Paycom] Thanks Kate, Hunstville copies all and will pass on all those good words, and considering we started the activity with a couple of screws loose, I think we did pretty well.

– [Kate Rubins] I was saying the same thing, so thank you so much again!

La entrada SODI-DCMIX: happy to see you again! aparece primero en E-USOC.

Gravity is the great force of nature that keeps us with both feet on ground. One way to cancel out its effect is by experiencing a parabolic flight. In these flights, pilots perform a complex maneuver in order to trace the trajectory of a parabola, during this movement the occupants of the plane experience a feeling of weightlessness for 20 seconds.

Source: ESA

On this occasion, 18 projects applied for 4 seats in the Airbus A310 Zero-G, plane bought and adapted by Novaspace (a subsidiary of the French space agency) that will make the parabolic flight. Seven groups were selected to present their proposal to a jury composed of ESA engineers, scientists and Novaspace engineers. From the four teams finally selected two are from the E-USOC, a center of the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Aeronáutica y del Espacio (ETSIAE) at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Both projects have been developing for a long time and now, thanks to this opportunity, they can be tested in microgravity conditions.

The TEPiM project tests the improvement of heat transmissions in PCMs (Phase Change Materials) while they are been melting in microgravity conditions in the presence of an air layer. This layer allows the Marangoni Effects to take place, which creates a motion flow which allows heat transmission by convection.

PCMs are materials with a high latent heat which can be used to store and release large amounts of energy respectively during the solid-liquid and liquid-solid transitions. For instance, they are used in passive control systems in order to prevent certain electrical systems reaching temperatures outside their range of operation.

The team is composed of Andrés Cobos Usano and Jose Miguel Ezquerro Navarro, both PhD candidates in Aerospace Engineering, Almudena Calleja, studying a Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering, and Pedro Mongelos, studying Aeronautical Engineering, all of them in the ETSIAE. They have been working on this project for a year and a half, and they will continue until the flight will take place this autumn 2016.

From left to right: Almudena Callejo, Andrés Cobos Usano and Pedro Mongelos. Source: E-USOC

The CFViB project studies the effect of high frequency and small amplitude vibrations in liquids in a weightless environment. These liquids are stored in containers of different shapes (cylindrical and parallelepiped).

In this case, the vibrations are created through piezoelectric, because they are smaller than commonly used vibrators and their frequency range can be very wide (from 1KHz to 1MHZ). The goal is to know whether it is possible to use these devices to control fluids in containers when they change their position and shape, and therefore, if they can be used as active systems to control liquids such as fuel or water in space missions.

The group has a wide experience in the behavior of vibrated fluids, and have achieved significant result in this field of research. The performance of this experiment will allow the team, whose members are Jose Javier Fernández, a PhD candidate in Aerospace Engineering at ETSIAE, and Pablo Salgado, a Master’s Degree in Aeronautical Engineering student at ETSIAE too, to test their theoretical results in a microgravity environment.

José Javier Fernández, José Miguel Ezquerro and the A310 Zero-G plane in the background. Source: ESA

La entrada Two teams from E-USOC have been selected for the FlyYourThesis! program aparece primero en E-USOC.