Crude oil experiment thermal-vacuum testing

Soret Coefficient in Crude Oil experiment testing in a thermal-vacuum chamber at the National Space Science Centre in Beijing, China, recreated the temperature and pressure extremes of space.

The experiment will measure how hydrocarbon molecules redistribute when the temperature is not uniform. Learning how complex liquids behave is of interest to the petroleum industry and academia, who can apply the data to model real-life conditions of oil reservoirs deep underground. These measurements can only be performed in weightlessness.