Steam bubbles from frying in microgravity

High-speed video capture of steam bubbles in various levels of gravity from frying potatoes in oil – in an air-zero-g aircraft.

To study how microgravity influences cooking techniques such as frying, a novel experimental carousel-type apparatus was designed to fly and be safe. The experiments were conducted on two ESA parabolic flight campaigns, whereby an aircraft flies in repeated arcs to recreate brief moments of weightlessness.

The experiment captured the frying process with a high-speed, high-resolution camera to capture the bubble dynamics such as growth rate, size and distribution, as well as the escape velocity from the potato, the bubbles’ speed and direction of travel in the oil. The experiment measured the temperature of the boiling oil as well as temperatures inside the potato – three levels deep. The experiment hardware is automated and closed for safety. It maintains a constant pressure inside the frying chamber to avoid leaks, to prevent the oil from sloshing around and to use less energy to heat the oil.