Welcome to the Low-Gravity Science and Technology (LGST) Laboratory! Our group is part of the Space Systems Design Laboratory and engages in a broad range of activities in the fields of microgravity and low-gravity research. We are currently working on the development of novel multiphase flow management technologies by exploiting electromagnetic and acoustic actuation mechanisms. Our ultimate goal is to expand the traditional boundaries of the field of low-gravity fluid mechanics and contribute to the development of next-generation space systems. Areas of interest include life support, in-situ resource utilization, propellant sloshing, and heat transfer, among others.
News & Events
- December 13th, 2024: Congratulations to Matthias Kura on successfully defending his semester MS thesis at the Technical University of Munich! Prof. Gisela Detrell and Prof. Romero-Calvo co-advised Matthias’ work on magnetic phase separation for microalgae applications in microgravity.
- December 12th, 2024: The International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer published today Dr. Sam Hart’s latest journal article on liquid metal heat transport for high-power CubeSat applications. Evan Sánchez is currently exploring this concept for hypersonic reentry vehicles.
- December 6th, 2024: Sam Hart and Reyouf Alotaibi presented this week their work at the ASGSR Meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was a great opportunity to reconnect with the microgravity science community!
- December 2nd, 2024: Congratulations to Luca Scifoni and Francesco Isidori Pacelli for successfully defending their MS theses. Their work on active lunar dust mitigation will make us walk again on the Moon!
- November 8th, 2024: Congratulations to Dr. Samuel Hart for successfully defending his PhD thesis, Thermoelectromagnetic Fluid Management in Microgravity! He will join SpaceX to work on the Starship ECLSS team next January. Way to go, Sam!
- November 8th, 2024: Congratulations to Shay Vitale on landing one of the highly competitive IMS Facility Seed Grants for his MS project Manufacture of a Diamagnetically Enhanced PEM Electrolysis Cell!
- October 31st, 2024: Our lab just completed the first parabolic flight campaign with the NASA TechFlights program! Boarding Zero G Corp’s G-Force One was a truly exhilarating experience. Looking forward to the next one!
- October 24th, 2024: Congrats to Reyouf Alotaibi for passing her MS proposal on liquid droplet radiators!
- September 6th, 2024: Congrats to Francesco Maria Isidori Pacelli for passing his MS proposal on flexible electrodynamic dust shielding!
- August 23rd, 2024: Congrats to Luca Scifoni for passing his MS proposal on electrodynamic dust mitigation!
- August 9th, 2024: Congrats to Theo St. Francis for winning the ARCS Scholars Award!
- July 29th, 2024: Fun YouTube podcast on low-gravity with Fraser Cain! See more at https://youtu.be/fnKwzi7nvOU?si=wZrknt_HrPXvlCIT
- July 21st, 2024: Fun LGST Lab field trip to the 53rd International Conference on Environmental Systems in Louisville, KY. Sam Hart, Theo St. Francis, and Shay Vitale presented multiple papers on heat transfer, life support, and phase separation in low gravity.
- July 23rd, 2024: Romain Fonteyne gave a presentation on our lunar dust mitigation work at the NASA Exploration Science Forum in St. Louis, MO.
- July 13th, 2024: Our group gave four presentations this week at the 2024 COSPAR Scientific Assembly in Busan, South Korea, in collaboration with Prof. Katharina Brinkert’s group at the ZARM Institute in Bremen.
- June 16th, 2024: This week we presented several papers at the SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation conference in Yokohama! They are the first publications resulting from our DARPA Zenith grant with Honeywell Aerospace.
- May 15th, 2024: Tatsuyoshi Kurumiya has joined the LGST Lab to support our NASA NIAC project on low-gravity magnetohydrodynamic water electrolysis over the summer. He will be working with Theo St. Francis as part of the Georgia Tech SURE program. Welcome to the lab, Tatsu!
- May 1st, 2023: Today, Dr. Romero-Calvo was elected vice-chair of the AIAA Microgravity and Space Processes Technical Committee (MSPTC).
- April 25th, 2024: Congrats to Taylor Hampson and Spencer Baird for being selected to join the CREATE-X Startup Launch 2024 summer program! They will initiate the commercialization of the magnetohydrodynamic liquid metal technology developed by the LGST lab.
- April 23rd, 2024: R. Fonteyne is presenting the LGST Lab’s work on lunar dust mitigation today at the LSIC Spring Meeting in Laurel, MD, also on behalf of F. Isidori-Pacelli and L. Scifoni.
- April 4th, 2024: Congratulations to Eric Comstock and Theo St. Francis for receiving the 2024 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship! The program will support their research in magnetohydrodynamic Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP) and multiphase mass transport in low-gravity water electrolysis.
- April 4th, 2024: New conference paper at the 2024 Region II AIAA Student Conference at Kennedy Space Center. The publication, named “Magnetic Field Mapper Using Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) Components“, is led by our undergraduate student Yubo Fu.
- April 1st, 2024: Read more about Francesco Isidori Pacelli’s journey in this post from the Georgia Tech Europe campus!
- March 27th, 2024: Dr. Romero-Calvo is presenting our NASA NIAC magnetohydrodynamic electrolysis work today at the Georgia Tech Energy Materials Day.
- February 26th, 2024: NASA has selected our SmallSat magnetic positive positioning technology as part of the TechFlights 2023 cohort! Excited to fly our demonstrators onboard Zero Gravity Corp.’s parabolic plane.
- February 8th, 2024: Our grad students R. Fonteyne, F. Isidori-Pacelli, and L. Scifoni are presenting their work on lunar dust mitigation through electrodynamic dust shielding at the ExplOrigins 2024 Colloquium in Atlanta.
- February 6th, 2024: New conference paper at the 2024 AAS Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference in Breckenridge, CO. The publication, named “Open-Source Propellant Sloshing Modeling and Simulation“, is led by our undergraduate student Brian González.
- January 19th, 2024: Congrats to Samuel Hart, Evan Sanchez, and Hadi Malik for publishing their paper “Neutral Buoyancy Testing of Low-Gravity Fluid Management” in the AIAA Journal!
- January 11th, 2024: Congrats to Samuel T. Hart for winning the Best Small Satellite Student Paper Award at the 2024 AIAA SciTech Conference! He presented his paper “Leveraging Phase Change for CubeSat Propellant Positioning“. Interview here.
- January 5th, 2024: Today, NASA announced the selection of our low-gravity magnetohydrodynamic water electrolysis technology for a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Phase I study. Excited to work on this new project! Read the full history here.
- January 4th, 2024: This semester, we welcome Theo St. Francis, Francesco Isidori Pacelli, and Luca Scifoni to the LGST Lab! They will be working on low-gravity water electrolysis and lunar dust mitigation. Read more about them here and here!
For older entries, check our News Log!