Overview of the Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) for the International Space Station (ISS)

Abstract

The Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) is one of the experiment facilities for materials science, which will be on board Japanese Experiment Module “Kibo” of the International Space Station (ISS) in 2015. Since JAXA decided twenty years ago that ISS levitation furnace control method should be Coulomb force, we continued further research experiments and development of ground models. In 2011, JAXA has proceeded to the development phase of ELF and we are now ready to finish the development of ELF. JAXA plans to study thermophysical properties of many kinds of the oxides which cannot be measured on earth. In addition, creation of new materials is another objective of space experiments using ELF. Both is expected to contribute to a new discovery of scientific research and industrial applications. This paper shows the overview of ELF including the history of design concept.