NASA sponsored fluid physics experiments conducted on the Mir Space Station

An overview of the NASA sponsored fluid physics experiments conducted on the Mir Space Station beginning with the launch of the Priroda module in April, 1996 is presented. The NASA sponsored fluid physics experiments on Mir have studied free surface behavior, capillary-driven flows, and colloidal science. The experiments discussed are the Interfacial Configuration Experiment (ICE), the Technological Evaluation of the Microgravity Isolation Mount (TEM-1 & 2), the Angular Liquid Bridge (ALB) experiment, the Binary Colloidal Alloy Tests (BCAT-1 & 2), the Colloidal GELation (CGEL) experiment, the Passive Accelerometer System (PAS), and the Growth and Morphology of Supercritical Fluids (GMSF) experiment. This review discusses the scope, conduct, and results of these experiments. In addition, the lessons learned with respect to remote operation of experiments on the Mir Space Station are discussed.