Abstract Scope |
Over the past decades, the European Space Agency has developed and employed a suite of microgravity platforms that enables scientific and industrial communities to conduct space-relevant investigations for the physical as well as for the life sciences. These platforms include drop towers, parabolic flights, sounding rockets, and the International Space Station (ISS), each with their particular features and hence application areas. This paper gives an overview of the research programme on materials science using these platforms, thereby drawing from the various projects that are conducted by (European) research teams in this domain. Examples are on solidification studies by amongst others the use of X-ray imaging equipment, and the study of solidification kinetics and the measurement of thermo-physical property data by means of an electromagnetic levitator. Results from these investigations provide for unique benchmark data for the testing and validation of fundamental theories and for modelling and simulation of (solidification) processes. |