A sped-up video of an aluminium and nickel alloy solidifying in the Electromagnetic Levitator facility on board the International Space Station.
Helping to reveal the core physics at play in materials science, the Electromagnetic Levitator (EML) is a furnace in ESA’s Columbus laboratory that can melt metals by induction heating them up to 2200 °C. Scientists can then observe the samples in a molten state, or while solidifying in weightlessness as they cool rapidly. On Earth, this process is influenced by gravity and the sample’s contact with the walls of the furnace.
The fifth and last Automated Transfer Vehicle brought EML to the International Space Station in the summer of 2014. ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst installed the facility during his Blue Dot mission and EML has been hosting science experiments ever since.