Fundamental research, relevant also in the fields of environmental protection, medicine and chip manufacturing

Mission No. 13 of the Research Facility PK-3 Plus from Kayser-Threde was carried out successfully in a four-day series of experiments (6th-9th July) by the Russian cosmonaut Skvortsov at an altitude of approx. 350 km on board the International Space Station (ISS). The experiments which were prepared by the Garching based Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in cooperation with a group of international scientists covered the physical areas crystallisation, melting, electrical discharge and agglomeration.

Successful Team. The PK-3 Plus apparatus, like its predecessor model PKE-Nefedov, was developed and realised by Kayser-Threde in close cooperation with MPE and the Moscow Joint Institute for High Temperatures (JIHT). Kayser-Threde was responsible for all systematic aspects of the experimental facility, the contract for which was received from the German Space Agency (DLR) and funded by the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie).

Tradition. The research of complex plasma on board the ISS has a long tradition, since research work commenced with this discipline in the Russian segment Swezda in the year 2001. PK-3 Plus is meanwhile in its fifth year of operation on board the ISS and with completion of the its13th experimental series it is, in view of the number of successfully completed missions, a worthy match for its successful predecessor facility PKE-Nefedov (2001 - 2005). However, PK-3 Plus can now top this with another advantage: since January of this year it has a permanent and readily accessible location since it has been removed from Swezda and transferred to the MIM-2 module.

Continuity. Further experiments are planned for PK-3 Plus up to the end of 2011, a prolongation is under investigation. The PK-4 apparatus for operation on the ISS is currently under development. Kayser-Threde has been awarded prime contract from the European Space Organisation ESA which will operate the facility in the Columbus module of the ISS. PK-4 will give rise to a permanent laboratory which will be suited foremost to the research of high-grade dynamic effects and shall offer many new opportunities for the research of complex plasma. PK-4 is intended to relieve the present facility in about three years from now and further guarantee the continuity of the history of successful cooperative development and research efforts.

Research Objects and Aims. In addition to the three solid, liquid or gaseous states of matter, a fourth state exists which is known as plasma. If the plasma has an accumulation of charged micro-particles it is referred to as complex plasma. The latter belongs to the category “soft matter”. In order to investigate soft plasma it must hover freely. Because of the force of gravity prevailing on earth opportunities to carry out experiments of this sort are restricted. For this reason research activities are shifted to laboratories in space. Such insightful research results could never be obtained without the aid of a cosmonaut or astronaut since the optimum experimental parameters for many experimental sequences only can be adjusted on site – i.e. on board the ISS. The knowledge gained from these experiments can be used in applications in a diverse array of fields such as environmental protection, solar cell production and the manufacture of semi-conductor chips and in medicine.