A student team from the AGH Lunar-Technologies scientific club, operating at the Faculty of Space Technologies of AGH University of Krakow, will conduct an experiment called CAPYBARA during a parabolic flight campaign supported by the Education Office of the European Space Agency.
The students will investigate how liquids behave in microgravity. Research conducted under these unusual conditions could contribute to the development of new technologies for future space missions, ranging from fuel management systems to astronaut life-support solutions.
The CAPYBARA project, whose full name is Capillary Absorption and Permeation in Biomimetic Additive Research for Aerospace, has been selected for implementation under the ESA Academy Experiments Programme. The experiment will be carried out during a parabolic flight campaign organised with the support of the European Space Agency’s Education Office in November 2026.
Parabolic flights create brief periods of microgravity, making it possible to conduct experiments that cannot be performed under normal conditions on Earth.
“The aim of the project is to investigate the capillary effect under microgravity conditions. This phenomenon causes liquids to move through narrow spaces without the involvement of external forces. It occurs widely in nature, including in the transport of water through plants, and is also used in many technological applications,” explains Filip Wylęgała, the project’s technical coordinator from the AGH Lunar-Technologies scientific club.
“In space technologies, it plays a particularly important role because controlling the flow of liquids is essential in areas such as fuel management, cooling, life-support systems and plant cultivation.”
Studying capillary transport without gravity
The young researchers’ hypothesis is that the absence of gravity will make it possible to observe capillary liquid transport more accurately by eliminating the limitations caused by hydrostatic pressure.
The team will study how liquids spread through porous structures known as Triple Periodic Minimal Surfaces, or TPMS. The structures will be designed and manufactured by the students themselves using MSLA resin 3D-printing technology.
TPMS structures are characterised by a continuous network of pores, a high surface-area-to-volume ratio and fully adjustable porosity. These properties make them particularly suitable for research into capillary transport.
The researchers will examine two key parameters of the capillary effect under microgravity conditions.
The first will be flow velocity, analysed by measuring the rate of absorption and tracking the position of the liquid front using camera recordings.
The second will be capillary rise, meaning the amount of liquid a particular structure is capable of absorbing. This will be assessed by measuring filling times and the depth to which a coloured liquid penetrates the structure.
The team will also compare the performance of different TPMS geometries to identify the most efficient designs.
Hundreds of samples to be tested
“The experiment will involve the controlled, slow injection of liquid into the capillary structures using syringes during each parabola,” Wylęgała explains.
“The entire process will be programmed and controlled by a miniature Raspberry Pi computer, under the close supervision of operators who will replace racks containing capillary samples between successive parabolas.”
The experiment will be recorded using cameras, allowing the researchers to analyse liquid transport within the structures.
“The entire system will be enclosed in a sealed aluminium container to protect against any accidental leakage of liquid,” adds Wylęgała, who is also a doctoral student at AGH University.
Several hundred samples will be tested over the course of the flights. This is intended to ensure the repeatability and statistical representativeness of the results, which will subsequently be published in scientific papers.
The experiment could provide valuable data to support the development of future liquid-management strategies for use in space environments.
Prestigious opportunity for AGH students
“Participation in a programme organised with the support of the European Space Agency’s Education Office gives AGH students not only an opportunity to carry out their own research project, but also a prestigious distinction and a chance to gain experience in an international scientific environment focused on space technologies,” says Professor Tadeusz Uhl, Dean of the Faculty of Space Technologies and the project’s academic supervisor.
“Working on the experiment and conducting it during the parabolic flight campaign will allow team members to develop their research skills in cooperation with experts from the space sector, while gaining practical experience in carrying out advanced research under microgravity conditions.”
