The casting and mechanism of formation of semi-permeable polymer membranes in a microgravity environment

The National Electric Company of Venezuela, C.A.D.A.F.E., is sponsoring the development of this experiment which represents Venezuela's first scientific experiment in space.The apparatus for the automatic casting of polymer thin films will be contained in NASA's payload No. G-559 of the Get Away Special program for a future orbital space flight in the U.S. Space Shuttle.Semi-permeable polymer membranes have important applications in a variety of fields, such as medecine, energy, and pharmaceuticals, and in general fluid separation processes such as reverse osmosis, ultra-filtration, and electro-dialysis.The casting of semi-permeable membranes in space will help to identify the roles of convection in determining the strucutre of these membranes.