Description of the Sounding Rocket Experiment-SOURCE

A SOUnding Rocket Compere Experiment (SOURCE) is prepared for launch in spring 2008 and shall deliver approximately 360 s of microgravity time. The experiment is intended to partially fulfill the scientific objectives of the European Space Agency Microgravity Applications Program project AO-2004-111 (Convective boiling and condensation). One of the tasks of this experiment is the investigation of capillary dominated flow at a heated wall. The SOURCE experiment will also serve the needs of the COMPERE research group whose mandate is to investigate the behavior of propellant in spacecraft tanks. SOURCE is a benchmark type of experiment on fluid behavior in tanks to test hypotheses and numerical predictions (quantitative results on a tank scale). Several work packages have been distributed to the Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM) to manage a part of the preparation of this experiment. Since ZARM acts also as a principal investigator, the subject of surface tension driven flows is one of the main topics. It includes the design of the experimental setup to study free surface behavior as well as the numerical predictions to quantify the heat transfer at a non-isothermal boundary condition in the absence of gravity.