Current Status and Future Visions in Fundamental Physics under Microgravity in Japan

Abstract

Although the Japanese apparatuses for fundamental physics have not been onboard the International Space Station, experimental data in this research field have been obtained through international collaboration and parabolic flights. The Japanese microgravity experiments in this field at present are complex plasmas and helium crystal growth. In this paper, current status of complex plasmas research is described since this is an experiment project of the ISS Science Project Office at Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. After that, some future visions of this field are described and discussed by considering the possible strategy until 2020.