Experiment carrier for the Einstein-Elevator

An essential Component of the Einstein-Elevator at the Hannover Institute of Technology (HITec) is an experiment carrier, that is used inside the Einstein-Elevators gondola. In collaboration with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the Institute for Transport and Automation Technology is developing a carrier to make use of the maximum potential, that the Einstein-Elevator offers. Using this carrier experiments in the fields of production technology and physics research are planned.

Experiments in physics research place high demands on the residual acceleration during experiment. Therefore, the carrier must be able to achieve a residual acceleration of less than 10^-6 g (microgravity). A vacuum inside the gondola for acoustic decoupling and a carrier structure that is as rigid as possible will enable this. For experiments in production technology, on the other hand, it is necessary to draw heat energy out of the carrier. Therefor a separate cooling system is required, which can be decoupled from the gondola and the rest of the system while an experiment is being carried out. To run all kinds of experiments on one carrier system, the experiment carrier requires a high degree of flexibility.

With the help of the knowledge gained from the experiments, new types of measurement technologies with high measurement accuracy will be developed. Furthermore, manufacturing processes will be developed that can be used in space and on the surface of the moon and Mars.

Funding by: DLR-SI