The DropTES Program finances the team to access ZARM’s drop tower in Bremen, a facility granting high-quality microgravity conditions. The ferromagnetic fluids tested by the students are liquids that respond to magnetic fields. Their peculiarity may represent an interesting evolution for the management of liquids in low-gravity environments. For example, a new approach to attitude control can be attained by the active management of liquid propellant sloshing in new generation nanosatellites. The team of students is now starting the preparation of the final experimental campaign which is scheduled for November 2019.

The initiative is coordinated by the Space Propulsion Lab, Dept. Aerospace Science and Technology of Politecnico di Milano and includes the Departments of Fluid Mechanics and of Applied Physics III of the University of Seville, and the Autonomous Vehicle Systems Laboratory of the University of Colorado Boulder.