Abstract
The ElectroMagnetic Levitator (EML) is a facility for containerless processing of liquid metals and semiconductors under microgravity conditions. It shall be launched with the ATV and installed in the European Module COLUMBUS of the ISS for utilisation as of 2012. In preparation for the scientific utilisation of this facility, first experiments have been selected by the funding agencies ESA, DLR, JAXA and NASA. The scientific teams backing the selected experiments have representatives in the Investigators Working Group, IWG. The IWG monitors the progress of the hardware development and the mission planning. In addition, the IWG is the scientific coordination forum where maximisation of the scientific return on the resources allocated to an EML increment is sought for. This paper briefly describes the tasks of the IWG and gives a short report on the present status.
