Romanian-made DropCoal scientific device launched into space

The DropCoal scientific device, developed entirely in Romania by Romanian InSpace Engineering, has been launched to the International Space Station. The device was developed entirely in Romania by Romanian InSpace Engineering (RISE), as part of a project funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and proposed by an international team of researchers led by INFLPR. The launch took place on Tuesday from NASA Kennedy Space Center, the equipment being inside the Dragon capsule, mounted on a Falcon-9 rocket (as part of the SpaceX CRS-31 mission). According to a RISE press release: "DropCoal was designed to study the coalescence and mixing of liquids during a 6-month mission aboard the International Space Station. More specifically, throughout the entire mission, the device will run 560 experiments, which involve generating two droplets of different substances, filming with an ultrafast camera how they unite and mix in microgravity. The discoveries resulting from this experiment are of particular importance for space exploration, as they will help scientists improve the way astronauts administer drugs or fuel various spacecraft." RISE designed and built the device necessary for the experiment. It includes an ultrafast video camera, a fluid circulation system, pumps, and high-precision motors to control the movement of the droplets towards each other.

"The formation of the drops is carried out through advanced software, being controlled by an operations center installed in the RISE laboratory," the same source shows. In order to obtain the qualification for launch, the device went through a testing campaign according to ESA and NASA requirements. This campaign included checks for: resistance to vibrations during launch, operation over the entire temperature range, electromagnetic compatibility with the ISS and compatibility with the communications interface. The team of scientists who proposed the experiment is led by experts from the National Institute for Plasma Laser and Radiation Physics INFLPR Romania in collaboration with the Technical University of Darmstadt (Germany) and Carnegie Mellon University (United States of America). A space mission operated entirely from Romania, DropCoal will run scientific experiments for 6 months on board the Station. DropCoal is thus the first complete space mission, from the concept phase to the operation and processing of scientific data, developed in Romania as a member state of the European Space Agency (ESA). The project is fully funded by the European Space Agency and aligns with the efforts of the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) to develop the space field in Romania.