Electromagnetic Levitator

A free-floating molten metal suspended by electromagnetic force during 20 seconds of weightlessness on a parabolic flight.

The Blue Dot mission will inaugurate the electromagetic levitator on the International Space Station in ESA’s Columbus laboratory. This is a furnace that can heat metals up to 2100°C and then cool them rapidly.

For scientists observing liquid metals cooling in weightlessness removes unnecessary complexity to reveal the core processes of physics. The electromagnetic levitator takes things a step further and suspends the metals in mid-air as they melt and solidify.