Maxus 4 ready for launch
The European Space Agency's (ESA) Maxus 4 suborbital microgravity mission is to be launched from northern Sweden on 29 April. The flight will provide weightlessness for seven experiments in material science and fluid physics. For the last two years, scientists from France, Germany, Italy and Sweden have been working together with engineering teams from Astrium GmbH and the Swedish Space Corporation. Three experiments in material science and four in fluid physics will be conducted during the flight. Two of the fluid physics experiments will investigate surface driven flows in a liquid bridge of silicon oil as a model of the floating zone crystal growth technique. The other two will characterise aqueous and non-aqueous foams. One materials science experiment will look at the initial crystallisation kinetics of zeolite Two silicon growth experiments will be performed in mono-ellipsoidal mirror furnaces. The first will investigate how the Marangoni convection in the melt of the growing semiconductor can be suppressed by a rotating electromagnetic field. The second will use a plezoelectric oscillator to induce vibrations in the melt of the growing crystal to improve the quality of the crystal. 'The mission will be yet another milestone in the attempt to achieve a better understanding of complex application oriented processes by eliminating the influence of gravity,' said Werner Riesselmann, Head of ESA's microgravity payload division. 'ESA has already selected more sounding rocket experiments, including some in biology, for the next flight in November this year and for other flights due to take place in 2002 and 2003. These missions are important as preparatory research for the European utilisation of the International Space Station.