Enhanced Science on the ISS: Influence of Gravity on Electrokinetic and Electrochemical Assembly in Colloids

This proposal to the EPSCoR ISS program has the primary purpose of validating our 2016 experiments on the ISS through NASA's Advanced Colloids Experiment (ACE) program. We will take advantage of new colloid samples and updated equipment on the ISS to determine the fundamental physics of nanoparticle-microparticle interactions and stability in microgravity. Dr. Stuart Williams is the Science-PI of a group currently being supported by NASA EPSCoR for a 3-year development of International Space Station (ISS) experiments. A condition of this RFP to have had the developments occurring under other NASA EPSCoR investments. Summary of Previous Research Accomplishments: Scientific experiments prepared by two Kentucky universities successfully completed 85 days in orbit this past March. Launched onboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, then circling Earth at more than 17,000 miles per hour inside the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory under "weightless" or microgravity conditions, these experiments allowed a research collaboration between Kentucky universities, NASA, and industry partners to study aggregation of colloids - liquids like milk that contain suspended particles - in isolation from the force of gravity. The project, Influence of Gravity on Electrokinetic and Electrochemical Colloidal Self-Assembly for Future Materials, is designed to investigate how to precisely control colloids and develop the potential for new materials with enhanced energy, thermal, optical, chemical, and mechanical properties. The opportunity to conduct experiments in space, funded through the NASA and Kentucky EPSCoR programs, allowed researchers to test fifteen different samples of microfluids and obtain over 20,000 digital images for qualitative and quantitative analysis. On the ground, extensive experimentation and sample characterization are currently being conducted to properly compare on-earth observations with results acquired from the ISS.