Seebeck and resistance diagnostics in the ESA MSL facility for the ISS

The new generation of furnaces, used to study materials in microgravity on board the International Space Station, is defined to perform long duration experiments requiring optimised growth parameters of the material under study. Seebeck and Resistance diagnostics are to be able to perform in-situ and non-invasive observations and give scientists a means to influence their experiment, thus implementing the Telescience concept. A breadboard model and an engineering model of the “Seebeck and Resistance Measurement Device” (S&RMD) have been realised under an ESA contract. Two flight models are soon to be realised. They will be placed on board the International Space Station (ISS) in 2004/2005 for use by scientists. The aim of this presentation is to inform the scientific community and programmatics managers of the performances of such a device to attract their interest in view of future scientific experiment proposals on board the International Space Station, in the ESA Materials Science Laboratory (MSL) facility. The MSL will be integrated in the NASA first Material Science Research Rack (MSRR-1), which will be installed in the US Laboratory of the ISS.