The technique of foam generation cannot be tested on the ground as foams are transient and collapse rapidly in 1g conditions. Technical aspects of these two experiments are being attended to by the Swedish Space Corporation, which is in charge of the preparation of the Maxus and Maser sounding rocket flights. Will investigate the effect of vibrations in weightlessness on inhomogeneities in two-phase fluids and granular matter. This is one of the experiments recommended to fly in the Fluid Science Laboratory currently being developed for ESA's Columbus Laboratory. Continues a previous experiment flown on the Russian satellite Foton-12.
Diffusion is the main process in metallurgy and crystal growth.
The diffusion coefficient of liquids is difficult to measure on the ground due to other mass transport phenomena resulting from gravity-induced natural convection. Will investigate the synthesis of new forms of carbon, such as fullerenes, nanotubes and diamonds, by applying a strong electric discharge between two graphite electrodes. Similar experiments were conducted previously during parabolic flights and showed that the process of obtaining these different carbon forms could be improved to some extent. Will study aspects of processing tungsten filaments to improve the performance of new lamps. This is one of the first experiments conducted directly by an industrial company in weightlessness, and shows the potential of applied research and development in microgravity.