ESA's Cooperative Strategy and Current Program in Materials Science in Space

Abstract

The physical sciences research activities implemented by ESA in the framework of the European Life and Physical sciences in Space (ELIPS) programme build up on more than two decades of scientific progress and experience with developing and operating instruments on various space carriers. Research projects are mostly defined and developed in the context of International Topical Teams supported by ESA in coordination with other international partner agencies. Formal project proposals are eventually submitted to regular Announcements of Opportunity, reviewed by international independent peers and their technical feasibility is assessed by technical experts of the facilities considered for the implementation of the space experiments. For most projects, experiments and numerical modelling go hand in hand. As concerning Materials Sciences and the realisation of solidification experiments several platforms and facilities are utilised. This spans from centrifuges to - with increasing experiment duration - the Drop Tower in Bremen, the A-300 aircraft flying parabolic trajectories, sounding rockets and eventually the International Space Station (ISS). Several solidification instruments from typical Bridgman type furnaces to electromagnetic levitation and heating of spherical samples were developed, some of which are already operational in orbit. A dedicated X-ray set-up has also recently been operated on a sounding rocket to enable in-situ observations of the solidification of a metallic alloy. The paper will provide an overview of solidification projects, their objectives and corresponding instruments available for experimentation. It will lay out the objectives and strategy of ESA’s research programme, including the consolidating the international cooperation that prevails in Europe and in the ISS project.