Novel active driven drop tower facility for microgravity experiments investigating production technologies on the example of substrate-free additive manufacturing

Lotz, Christoph; Wessarges, Yvonne; Hermsdorf, Jörg; Ertmer, W.; Overmeyer, Ludger

doi:10.1016/j.asr.2018.01.010

Cited by 23 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The general procedure during lunar-g flights are quite similar to the g flights Lotz et al (2018). The movement starts at the lower starting position.…”

Section: The Experimental Setupmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…For investigating scientific issues, the experimental setup is implemented in a modular experiment carrier. It is 2 m in height and 1.7 m in diameter and is constructed with fliexibly adjustable floors and various mounting possibilities for the experimental setup Lotz et al (2017Lotz et al ( , 2018Lotz et al ( , 2020. The assembled experiment carrier is limited to a maximum of 1,000 kg.…”

Section: The Experimental Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They supply the sensor telemetry of the carrier control unit as well as the data communication system and the experiment control unit. Experiments, such as substratefree additive manufacturing require additional systems such as video monitoring and a recording of status data around the experiment like accelerations and rotations Lotz et al (2018).…”

Section: The Experimental Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Additive Manufacturing Under Lunar Gravity and Microgravity

Reitz

Lotz

Gerdes

et al. 2021

Microgravity Sci. Technol.

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Mankind is setting to colonize space, for which the manufacturing of habitats, tools, spare parts and other infrastructure is required. Commercial manufacturing processes are already well engineered under standard conditions on Earth, which means under Earth’s gravity and atmosphere. Based on the literature review, additive manufacturing under lunar and other space gravitational conditions have only been researched to a very limited extent. Especially, additive manufacturing offers many advantages, as it can produce complex structures while saving resources. The materials used do not have to be taken along on the mission, they can even be mined and processed on-site. The Einstein-Elevator offers a unique test environment for experiments under different gravitational conditions. Laser experiments on selectively melting regolith simulant are successfully conducted under lunar gravity and microgravity. The created samples are characterized in terms of their geometry, mass and porosity. These experiments are the first additive manufacturing tests under lunar gravity worldwide.

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“…The general procedure during lunar-g flights are quite similar to the g flights Lotz et al (2018). The movement starts at the lower starting position.…”

Section: The Experimental Setupmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: The Experimental Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Experimental Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Additive Manufacturing Under Lunar Gravity and Microgravity

Reitz

Lotz

Gerdes

et al. 2021

Microgravity Sci. Technol.

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show abstract

“…We use a simplified geometry to model the large research facilities in the surroundings. This is, for example, the case for the Einstein-Elevator (Lotz et al 2018), a free-fall simulator with a weight of 165 t and horizontal distances of 32 m and 16 m to the VLBAI facility and gravimetry laboratory, respectively. Finally, we account for laboratory equipment, e.g.…”

Section: Physical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gravity field modelling for the Hannover 10 m atom interferometer

Schilling

Wodey

Timmen

et al. 2020

J Geod

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Absolute gravimeters are used in geodesy, geophysics and physics for a wide spectrum of applications. Stable gravimetric measurements over timescales from several days to decades are required to provide relevant insight into geophysical processes. Users of absolute gravimeters participate in comparisons with a metrological reference in order to monitor the temporal stability of the instruments and determine the bias to that reference. However, since no measurement standard of higher-order accuracy currently exists, users of absolute gravimeters participate in key comparisons led by the International Committee for Weights and Measures. These comparisons provide the reference values of highest accuracy compared to the calibration against a single gravimeter operated at a metrological institute. The construction of stationary, large-scale atom interferometers paves the way for a new measurement standard in absolute gravimetry used as a reference with a potential stability up to $$1\,\hbox {nm}{/}{\hbox {s}^{2}}$$ 1 nm / s 2 at 1 s integration time. At the Leibniz University Hannover, we are currently building such a very long baseline atom interferometer with a 10-m-long interaction zone. The knowledge of local gravity and its gradient along and around the baseline is required to establish the instrument’s uncertainty budget and enable transfers of gravimetric measurements to nearby devices for comparison and calibration purposes. We therefore established a control network for relative gravimeters and repeatedly measured its connections during the construction of the atom interferometer. We additionally developed a 3D model of the host building to investigate the self-attraction effect and studied the impact of mass changes due to groundwater hydrology on the gravity field around the reference instrument. The gravitational effect from the building 3D model is in excellent agreement with the latest gravimetric measurement campaign which opens the possibility to transfer gravity values with an uncertainty below the $${10}\,\hbox {nm}{/}{\hbox {s}^{2}}$$ 10 nm / s 2 level.

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“…Most ground-based facilities are limited by repetition rate, for example, the drop-tower in Bremen only allows for 2-3 drops per day. To address this limitation, a novel facility, the Einstein Elevator in Hanover [25], is currently in the commissioning phase and will offer up to 100 shots per day, each with a free-fall time of approximately 4 s. It was designed to accommodate various payloads, including experiments on atom optics and interferometry, which may e.g. be utilised in searches for dark matter [26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Bose-Einstein Condensate and Cold Atom Laboratory

Frye

Abend

Bartosch

et al. 2021

EPJ Quantum Technol.

Self Cite

131

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Microgravity eases several constraints limiting experiments with ultracold and condensed atoms on ground. It enables extended times of flight without suspension and eliminates the gravitational sag for trapped atoms. These advantages motivated numerous initiatives to adapt and operate experimental setups on microgravity platforms. We describe the design of the payload, motivations for design choices, and capabilities of the Bose-Einstein Condensate and Cold Atom Laboratory (BECCAL), a NASA-DLR collaboration. BECCAL builds on the heritage of previous devices operated in microgravity, features rubidium and potassium, multiple options for magnetic and optical trapping, different methods for coherent manipulation, and will offer new perspectives for experiments on quantum optics, atom optics, and atom interferometry in the unique microgravity environment on board the International Space Station.

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Novel active driven drop tower facility for microgravity experiments investigating production technologies on the example of substrate-free additive manufacturing

Cited by 23 publications

References 8 publications

Additive Manufacturing Under Lunar Gravity and Microgravity

Additive Manufacturing Under Lunar Gravity and Microgravity

Gravity field modelling for the Hannover 10 m atom interferometer

The Bose-Einstein Condensate and Cold Atom Laboratory

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