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The experiment developed by Oscar Maldonado, Laura Duarte and Beatriz Gallardo of the Castelldefels School of Technology (EPSC) was a winner in a European Space Agency (ESA) competition and will be integrated into the REXUS rocket with the work of other European students for launching into space.

Rocket Experiments for University Students is an initiative of the ESA and the German and Swedish space agencies offering European students the opportunity to carry out an experiment in a rocket, in this case the REXUS. The study proposal presented by the UPC students—who designed the subject of the study, developed the experiment and set it up themselves—was chosen last March in a workshop organized by the European Space Agency.

The experiment was designed in the Microgravity Laboratory of the Department of Applied Physics of the EPSC and is being led by Ricard González Cinca. It aims to study the behavior of bubbles exposed to vibrations and in low gravity situations. The process will consist in applying harmonic vibrations to four containers of bubbles in liquids with different properties. This study will take place in the minutes while the rocket is in free fall, when microgravity is attained, and will be recorded with a camera for later analysis and comparison with the reaction of fluids under gravity. The young scientists are expecting the results to provide information about the effect that the frequency and amplitude of the vibrations will have on the distribution of the bubbles in the container.

The study of biphasic fluids in microgravity is of particular importance to the basic knowledge of the behavior of these fluids under any conditions, as well as to the improvement of the functioning of space systems containing them (thermal control, fuel tanks, etc.). Moreover, proper control of these fluids under low gravity is essential in life support systems in space, for example, in bioreactors.

The experiment by the UPC students weighs around 10 kg and it will be part of the REXUS payload. On 21 January it was shipped to Germany, where it will undergo a month-long testing phase, and afterwards to Kiruna (Sweden). The Swedish space agency will integrate it into the rocket, together with an experiment by other European students.

The project has been supported by the Official Association of Technical Aeronautical Engineers of Spain (COITAE) and the Castelldefels City Council.