PK-4 Science Activities in Micro-gravity

PK-4 is a multi-functional plasma discharge source. Two setups exist for operating plasma discharge experiments on parabolic flight campaigns as well as in laboratory. Another setup for use on the International Space Station ISS is planned. The plasma can be created by a dc-discharge as well as by r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microgravity science and technology 2011-02, Vol.23 (2), p.169-171
Main Authors: Fink, Martin A., Thoma, Markus H., Morfill, Gregor E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerospace Technology and Astronautics
Classical and Continuum Physics
Discharge
Electrodes
Engineering
Fluid dynamics
Fluid flow
Fluids
International Space Station
Original Article
Parabolic flight
Shock waves
Solitons
Space Exploration and Astronautics
Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics
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Summary:PK-4 is a multi-functional plasma discharge source. Two setups exist for operating plasma discharge experiments on parabolic flight campaigns as well as in laboratory. Another setup for use on the International Space Station ISS is planned. The plasma can be created by a dc-discharge as well as by rf-discharges, coupled inductively. There exist various possibilities to manipulate the introduced microparticles: mechanical (glass-nozzle), optical (high power laser), electrical (EM-pulse-electrode, rf-electrodes, polarity-switching) and thermal (heating coil) manipulation. Several different types of experiments have already been done with PK-4 in parabolic flights: Nozzle-Experiments (particle jets, transition between fluid and single particle behaviour), Lane-Formation (cloud collisions), Laser driven shear flow, Shock waves and solitons (excitation of shock waves applying electric pulses using the EM-electrode), String-Fluids (electro-rheological fluids), and many more.
ISSN:0938-0108
1875-0494
DOI:10.1007/s12217-010-9244-3