“Being a materials scientist myself, the wonderful Electromagnetic Levitator was very close to my heart. When a gas circulation pump needed to be replaced during my Cosmic Kiss mission, I happily took on the task to keep this excellent facility running,” shares ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer.

EML has already been in use for a decade and was designed to work for several more years. In the last decades, over 700 publications have resulted from the experiment and its heritage, with a large majority appearing in top materials science journals.

The experiment has enhanced scientists’ understanding of a large variety of materials, from aluminium and steel for construction purposes, and semiconductors crucial for modern electronics, to high-performance materials designed to endure extreme conditions, such as turbine engines and titanium alloy hip replacements.