Read it here!

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.

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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.

Development and validation of the on-board procedures and automatic scripts, planning of the on-board activities, remote control and monitoring of the payload, troubleshooting of anomalies in a quick and agile way, data retrieval and dissemination to the scientific community, have been some of the tasks carried on by E-USOC in this project, for which there has been a tight coordination and collaboration with NASA.

NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins (@astroillini) installed ESA’s Selectable Optical Diagnostics Instrument (SODI) inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) on November 14, although the Cell Array (CA) of fluids was not installed until the end of the month, when it reached the ISS aboard the Progress 53 cargo ship. One of the most determining factors for the success of the mission was the limited lifetime of those fluid samples, an event determined by the appearance of bubbles. So, prior to its arrival to the Space Station, E-USOC team conducted a thorough optical checkout and calibration tests of relevant importance, because they allowed to start operating and generating useful science data from the very first moment of the Cell Array installation.

The mission concluded successfully after more than two month of operations. The payload was uninstalled on February 7th and the Cell Array was removed and is planned to be disposed of (destructive re-entry in a Progress spacecraft).

From the scientific point of view, the experiment has generated a substantial amount of high quality images of great value for the analysis of the processes involved in the diffusion of ternary fluid mixtures. In light of these good results, both NASA and ESA agreed to extend the operations one additional week. The extra activities turned out to produce more valuable science data, not considered initially in the mission’s main purposes. For example, the gas bubble appearing in the liquid cell over time was used by the science team for thermo/solute capillary (Marangoni effect) convection runs. Furthermore, downloaded images from the primary runs already seem to prove the predicted huge Soret effect.

E-USOC has received international recognition for the great performance in these operations. The European Space Agency in particular said:

“The Agency would like to remark outstanding activities done by E-USOC in performing SODI-DCMIX2 and the positive conclusion of the DCMIX2 experiments, as also positively acknowledged by the science community. The Agency congratulates E-USOC to this success.”

Source: NASA

It is worth mentioning that the E-USOC team member José Miguel Ezquerro has been nominated to the prestigious Zeldovich Medal, a prize awarded by the Russian Academy of Sciences and the COSPAR Space Scientific Committee to young scientists for their excellence.

DCMIX2 is the second of a series of five experiments. E-USOC has been designated by ESA as responsible for the SODI payload, and has already started working on the preparation activities for DCMIX3, foreseen for the end of 2014.

La entrada SODI-DCMIX2: From the ISS to the oil field aparece primero en E-USOC.

“Our work has always been recognized by European Space Agency and scientific teams with whom we have worked, but we did not expect this great institutional recognition, because many people work around the International Space Station and it is very difficult be nominated and awarded “. With these words, the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) Professor and E-USOC director, Ana Laverón, has expressed their surprise for receiving one of the awards.

On behalf of E-USOC team, two of its members have attended the third edition of the ESA ISS Awards, held on 26 March in ESTEC’s Erasmus Centre (Netherlands).They have come as nominees in Awards (2013) for the Increment 31/32.

The reasons for the nomination have been that Spanish USOC has provided an outstanding operational support throughout the execution of the GEOFLOW-2 experiment. For several months, the team led by Dr. Ana Laveron has provided continuous support to the GEOFLOW science team, always with a positive attitude. The E-USOC has also gained significant experience in the operational support of several hardware malfunctions / anomalies, ensuring valuable operational data gathering to support the work of the engineering community.

The award was introduced by astronaut André Kuipers, who was at the ISS for the increment 31/32, a symbol of the union between the different people that make space research. The trophy itself is a piece of ESA’s history – it is a bronze casting of astronaut Hans Schlegel’s Extra Vehicular Activity glove, used for the installation of the Columbus module on the Space Station in 2008. It symbolizes the handshake of trust between the crew and those that made the missions a success.

Indeed, among those on earth, is the Operations Center and Spanish User Support, located on Technical University of Madrid Campus of International Excellence Montegancedo. Ana Laverón, in charge of E-USOC, argues:

“This award has been the best recognition of the efforts that we have been devoted to obtain the best possible science from the experiments delegated to us by the European Space Agency.”

E-USOC has recently finished the operations on Geoflow-2B experiment, which obtained experimental and essential results to validate numerical models on the flow and composition of the Earth’s core and it is preparing the next, DCMIX-2, an experiment for study ternary diffusion in fluids. They will operate it during two or three months after its arrival at the ISS.

Expertise, professionalism and dedication were recognized in the third ISS Award ceremony. The Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations, Thomas Reiter, called the event “a unique opportunity to celebrate the achievements of the many excellent colleagues who with their expertise and through their personal dedication have contributed to successful missions.” Cooperation between all people involved in each mission is the key to its proper functioning and therefore they defined themselves as “a big family”, she said.

Source: ESA

La entrada E-USOC awarded by the European Space Agency aparece primero en E-USOC.

Fuente: E-USOC

ESA has invited schoolchildren aged between 12 -14 years to join the Greenhouse in Space project. This experiment, carried out by the Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli, consists of growing flowering plants inside two separate small greenshouses set up in the Columbus laboratory and follows their germination over a two-month period. Students on the ground will make the observations of the plants in their own mini greenhouse and compare the results with Paolo’s space experiment, by means of both recorded and live-link activity for educational events.

The 5th year students from CEIP Luis Buñuel, a bilingual school located in the town of Alcobendas, have joined to conduct this experiment and have yet requested their mini greenhouse kit. On the 17th of February they came to our premises to follow a live event with real time video from the International Space Station, in which the astronaut watered the seeds of the space greenhouse for the first time.

The event was also followed by many students taking part in this exciting educational initiative from different schools all over Europe. They asked interesting questions to the astronaut like ‘how oxygen is generated on the ISS’ or ‘how many times do they have day and night at the ISS’ amongst others. The most stunning moment for our young science enthusiast visitors was Paolo’s demonstration about microgravity, when he made a big water drop to float in front of the camera before ending up in his mouth.

Click on this link to watch the streaming video for this activity.

Growing plants in space will be crucial for the astronauts of the future. When flying to Mars or even further, it will be necessary to produce fresh food onboard and become partially self-sufficient. Setting up greenhouses on the Moon, Mars or other planetary bodies will also be an important part of future exploration missions.

Greenhouses also provide oxygen and bring some life to the bleakness of space. Caring for plants is a good way to maintain memories of Earth and an enjoyable way to pass time during the long and possibly boring interplanetary cruise.

Ext. Source: ESA news – A greenhouse in space

MagISStra is the third six-month stay by a European astronaut on the Station, a fascinating mission pursuing the ISS triple goal: bringing the benefits of space science, technology and education from space back to Earth.

Nespoli will contribute to the scientific exploitation of Europe’s Columbus laboratory by carrying out an intensive programme of experiments, ranging from radiation monitoring to visual perception studies, which it is worth mentioning ESA’s novel 3D camera that will show unprecedented images of the ISS.

Ext. Source: ESA MagISStra Press Kit (pdf 5.95 MB)

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