Condensation Experiment Launched to ISS on NG-19 Mission

A condensation experiment developed by Purdue University was launched to the International Space Station on the Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply 19 (NG-19) mission Tuesday.

“We are ready to literally close the book on the whole science of flow and boiling in reduced gravity.”

Issam Mudawar, Purdue University

To live on the moon or Mars, humans will need heat and air conditioning that can operate long term in reduced gravity and temperatures hundreds of degrees above or below what we experience on Earth. Building these systems requires knowing how reduced gravity affects boiling and condensation, which all heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems use to operate in Earth’s gravity.

Condensation Experiment is Second in a Series

Onboard this flight is a module for conducting the second experiment of a facility called the Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment (FBCE), which has been collecting data on the space station since August 2021.

Last July, Issam Mudawar, Purdue’s Betty Ruth and Milton B. Hollander Family Professor of Mechanical Engineering and his students finished their first experiment gathering data from a module of FBCE on the space station that measures the effects of reduced gravity on boiling. When the facility’s additional components arrive with the NG-19 spacecraft, the researchers will be able to conduct the second experiment, which will investigate how condensation works in a reduced-gravity environment.

Both experiments’ modules for FBCE will remain in orbit through 2025, allowing the fluid physics community at large to take advantage of this hardware.

“We are ready to literally close the book on the whole science of flow and boiling in reduced gravity,” Mudawar said.

Data obtained by the Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment module will not only support exploration on the moon or Mars but also help spacecraft to travel longer distances. The farther missions are from Earth, the more likely that the spacecraft for those missions will need innovative power and propulsion systems, such as ones that are nuclear thermal or electric. Compared to other types of processes that enable heating and cooling in space, boiling and condensation would be much more effective at transferring heat for spacecraft with these systems.

In addition, FBCE data could help enable spacecraft to refuel in orbit by providing scientific understanding of how reduced gravity affects the flow boiling behavior of the cryogenic liquids spacecraft use as propellant.

(Source: Purdue University news release. Images provided by NASA)