Report on Microgravity Experiments of Marangoni Convection Aboard International Space Station

Abstract

This paper reports some important results obtained from a series of microgravity experiments on the Marangoni convection that takes place in liquid bridges. This project, called Marangoni Experiment in Space (MEIS), started from August 22, 2008 as the first science experiment on the Japanese Experimental Module “KIBO” at the ISS. Two series of experiments, MEIS-1 and 2, were conducted in 2008 and 2009, respectively. The experimental methods used are explained in some detail. The maximum size of the liquid bridge that could be realized during these experiments was 30 mm in diameter and 60 mm in length, giving an aspect ratio of 2.0. The results are obtained for a wide range of aspect ratios of the liquid bridges, including the values that cannot be reached in 1 g experiments, and therefore, they provide indispensable amount of data for the study of instability mechanisms of the Marangoni convection.