Technology box

ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet with Techno Box in the European International Space Station module Columbus on 3 September 2021.

Technology Box, or TetrISS, is a technology demonstrator that will show the work of Ernst Chladni in space. Chladni figures visually display acoustic waves on vibration plates in fine particles. In space, the sound waves will move to create three-dimensional structures.

Thomas shared this image on social media with the caption:

"This is Techno Box. As much as I would like (hate?) to have it make thumping techno music to welcome Matthias on board next week, it is techno as in technology. At school in France technology is often shortened to techno. We call techno music, tek, but the variations of how Europeans call electronic music and their subgenres is another story. What does Techno box do? It should allow students to visualise Chladni forms in three dimensions using sound waves. Which actually brings us back to music. When sounds waves interact with objects they can arrange them in a visual form (think sound waves), search for it... but only in weightlessness can we attempt to make three dimensional forms! The sound waves needed are not music (unfortunately) but mathematical wave forms. The French name for this experiment is TetrISS, do I have to explain that it was a legendary videogame?"

Over 200 experiments are planned during Thomas’ time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by the French space agency CNES.

Latest updates on the Alpha mission can be found via @esaspaceflight on Twitter, with more details on ESA’s exploration blog via thomaspesquet.esa.int.

Background information on the Alpha mission is available at www.esa.int/MissionAlpha with a brochure at www.esa.int/AlphaBrochure.