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Scientists must launch a project that could see new materials created in space with properties that are impossible to develop on Earth.
The experiment led by the University of Strathclyde will be conducted on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2021, after receiving £ 1.3 million in funding from the British Space Agency.
It will take advantage of the microgravity environment to create alloys or drugs whose properties can not be made on Earth.
Marcello Lappa, who leads the project, said: "With these experiments, we are trying to determine how, by shaking a complex fluid under microgravity conditions, we can create materials with structures that we can not manufacture on Earth.
These experiments will lead to advanced contactless manipulation strategies for the assembly of new materials and alloys.
Marcello Lappa, University of Strathclyde
"These experiments will lead to advanced contactless manipulation strategies for the assembly of new materials and alloys.
"They could even shed new light on the mechanisms that support the formation of asteroids and planets."
The team will study the complex fluids that can be formed by adding fine particles to a liquid.
These mixtures may have particular properties – for example, yogurt appears as a solid but behaves like a liquid once the pressure is applied.
When it is on Earth, gravity causes scattered particles to separate as a function of their weight – heavy particles flow to create sediments and lighter particles float upward.
This can make it difficult to produce materials with specific structures and properties.
Researchers will study how dispersed particles form highly ordered structures that can be used to make new materials in space.
They will achieve this by vibrating and heating complex fluids, largely free from the influence of gravity.
Engineers believe this could be a big step forward in the production of what is known as unobtanium – a material with amazing properties that does not exist on Earth.
The experiment will consist of using existing equipment on the ISS, and additional equipment built in the UK will be launched in space in 2021.
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