Ekoplasma - The Future of Complex Plasma Research in Space

Abstract

The Ekoplasma project, a Russian-German cooperation, is the future laboratory for the Investigation of complex plasmas under microgravity conditions on the International Space Station (ISS) after 2020. The essential part of Ekoplasma is the newly developed Zyflex chamber – a large, cylindrical plasma chamber with parallel, rf-driven electrodes and a flexible inner geometry. It is designed to extend the accessible experimental parameter range and to allow an independent control of the plasma parameters, therefore increasing the experimental possibilities and expected knowledge gain significantly. Further, a 3D optical diagnostic will allow for the study of particle Dynamics in 3D realtime. Possible future research topics include e.g. Phase transitions, the dynamics of liquids, Phase separation, or turbulence. The experimental setup and the current project status will be presented, as well as results of experiments on earth and in parabolic flights which show the scientific possibilities of this new laboratory. This work and some of the authors are funded by DLR/BMWi (FKZ 50WM1441).