AbstractThe international research on ISS in dusty plasma (also known as complex plasma) under prolonged microgravity condition entered a new area in March 2001: The PKE-Nefedov facility (formerly called PKE 3) performed its first experiment in radio-frequency induced complex plasmas. This bilateral German–Russian research facility operated successfully in over 13 missions over 5 years until its internal resources were consumed—resulting so far in over 30 peer-reviewed scientific publications. In place of PKE-Nefedov is the next generation experiment apparatus PK 3 Plus with refined and more powerful instruments and diagnostics, which had its on-orbit commissioning in January 2006. While PK 3 Plus will further investigate the radio-frequency induced plasmas for the next few years the new PK-4 research facility is under development for investigation of direct-current induced complex plasma. Because the highly successful series of stand-alone PK experiment facilities cover only a fraction of the overall complex plasma research field the IMPACT (International Multi-User Plasma, Atmospheric and Cosmic Dust Twin) Laboratory project was initiated.The IMPF/ICAPS (IMPACT) Laboratory is the logical next step to provide a home and rallying point for the worldwide growing research efforts under microgravity conditions in the fields of dusty plasma and interactions of cosmic and atmospheric particle systems.
Complex plasma research on ISS PKE-Nefedov, PK-3 Plus, PK-4, and impact laboratory
Acta Astronautica ; 65 , 5-6 ; 651-656
2009-01-07
6 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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