Heat Flow and Convection Experiments aboard Apollo 17

Abstract

Experiments conducted aboard Apollo 17 by astronaut Ronald E. Evans showed that in uncovered liquids convection driven by surface tension can occur at lower temperature gradients in low gravity (about 10-(8)g) than in 1g. In completely confined fluids (no liquid-gas interface) vibrations caused by spacecraft and astronaut movements increased the heat transfer considerably over the pure conduction case.