2. Other facilities and support to other missions (1985-1993)
In parallel, he followed the refurbishment of the Fluid Physics Module (FPM), the AFPM predecessor, flown on Spacelab 1 on STS-9 (November 1983) and Spacelab D1 on STS-61A (October 1985).
He participated also in the development of other microgravity facilities for parabolic flights, the Multi-User Combustion Chamber, the Droplet Burning Facility and the Heterogeneous Combustion Chamber, used for the first European microgravity combustion experiments. He developed micro-accelerometer systems to measure microgravity levels and a microgravity suspension system for payload confining for a preparatory parabolic flight experiment that flew later on ESA's Eureca platform on STS-46 (July 1992).
During the first Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS-1) Spacelab mission on STS-45 of the first Belgian Astronaut, Dirk Frimout, in March 1992, he gave support to remote operations at ESTEC for the Solar Constant (SOLCON) experiment of Dr Crommelynck (Royal Meteorological Institute, Brussels).
In 1993, he served as Technical Expert in the ESA Peer evaluation group for the selection of material sciences and fluid physics experiments for the EUROMIR-94 and EUROMIR-95 missions onboard the MIR space station, and in various other ESA technical evaluation boards.
3. Fluid Physics Facility (FPF), Collagex and Floating Zone Satbility Module (FZSM) (1993-1995)
From 1993 to 1995, he supported the development of microgravity facilities flown on Russian recoverable Foton satellites, as the Experiment Coordinator of the Fluid Physics Facility (FPF - Fluidpac), an instrument to investigate fluid interface dynamics for three experiments :
- Bifurcation anomalies Marangoni-Bénard instabilities (BAMBI) of Prof. J.C. Legros (Free University of Brussels ULB, Belgium)
- Marangoni grown instabilities in annulus (MAGIA) of Prof. D Schwabe (University of Giessen, Germany)
- Thermal radiation aspects on migrating particles (TRAMP) of Prof. F. Gaeta (University of Naples, Italy).
He followed as the Phase A Study Manager the technical development of the Collagex facility, an instrument to investigate the behaviour of colloids and aggregates in microgravity for an experiment of Prof. M. Giglio (University of Milan, Italy).
He participated in preliminary definition discussions for another facility, the Floating Zone Stability Module (FZSM), to investigate open fluid columns.
4. Bubble, Drop and Particle Unit (BDPU) on Spacelab LMS (1994-1996)
During the second International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2) Spacelab mission on STS-65 in July 1994, he supported the ground operations at the Space Remote Operation Centre (SROC), Brussels, Belgium, of an experiment of Prof. J.C. Legros (Free University of Brussels ULB, Belgium), with the Bubble, Drop and Particle Unit (BDPU), an instrument to investigate fluid drops and bubbles dynamics in microgravity.
In November 1994, he co-proposed another experiment for the re-flight of BDPU on the Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS) mission. In 1995 and 1996, he was the BDPU Experiment Coordinator for European and American experiments, following the development of BDPU experiment hardware and taking part in the final Spacelab integration and checkout activities at NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC). He prepared BDPU experiment operations for Spacelab LMS in participating in the mission timeline and experiment flight procedure definition, and in supporting mission simulations as Team Lead at the Payload Operation and Control Center (POCC) of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Huntsville, USA.
During the Spacelab LMS mission on STS-78 in June-July 1996, he led the BDPU science and engineering ground teams to conduct three experiments in five Test Containers on :
- Evaporation and condensation kinetics of Prof. J. Straub (Technical University of Munchen, Germany)
- Electrohydrodynamics of liquid bridges of Prof. D. Saville (University of Princeton, USA), involving for the first time in space electrostatic fields of up to 20 kV
- Oscillatory instability in a three-layer system of Prof. J.C. Legros (Free University of Brussels ULB, Belgium).
During this 17 day Spacelab LMS mission, the longest Spacelab mission, he logged more than 200 hours in the Science Operation Area (SOA) of the MSFC-POCC.
5. Advanced Protein Crystallisation Facility (APCF) on Spacehab / STS-95 (1996-1998)
During the preparation of the Spacelab LMS mission, he supported also the pre-flight operations of the Advanced Protein Crystallisation Facility (APCF) by supervising the pre-flight reactor filling at the University of Strasbourg, France.
From 1996 to 1998, he was Head of Project for the Advanced Protein Crystallisation Facility (APCF) for its fifth Space Shuttle flight on the Spacehab / STS-95 mission and he coordinated the 16 European experiments on crystallisation of protein and large biomolecules for this mission. Prior to the mission, he supervised the reactor filling at the University of Strasbourg, France.
He was the APCF Team Lead for mission simulations and the pre-launch checkout and integration and post-landing processing at the Spacehab Payload Processing Facility (SPPF), at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Pre- and post-flight operations involved for the first time measurement of protein solutions with light scattering and immediate flash-freezing after landing. During the STS-95 mission of October 1998, he supervised the in-flight APCF operations from the Payload Operation and Control Center (POCC) at the Mission Control Center (MCC) of the NASA-JSC, Houston, Texas.
6. Protein Crystallisation Diagnostics Facility (PCDF) on Columbus (1997-2009)
From 1997 to 2009, he was Head of Project for the development of a new facility, the Protein Crystallisation Diagnostics Facility (PCDF), an instrument to study in situ the nucleation and growth of protein crystals with advanced optical diagnostics. He followed the PCDF Phase B Study (1997-98) and the Phase C/D technical development (1999-06), involving for the first time the use of ammonia heat pipes in a manned space environment.
He was actively involved in supporting the PCDF ground protein crystallization research programme to prepare for this new era of research on the ISS, by developing PCDF Laboratory and Science Reference Models in coordination with the Belgian User Support Operation Center (B.USOC, Brussels) and as technical coordinator of the Non-Invasive Backscattering System (NIBS).
In 2001, he initiated a study to define an insert to investigate Zeolite aggregation using the advanced optical diagnostic capabilities of PCDF, and he followed the stages of development of a Zeolite Experiment Assembly (ZEA) for PCDF, which was interrupted for programmatic reasons.
The Electronic Unit of PCDF was eventually flown in the European Drawer Rack in the Columbus Laboratory on the International Space Station (ISS) in February 2008. He was instrumental in solving last-minute technical issues with leaking protein reactors on ground, delivering in time flight reactors for the launch of the PCDF Process Unit in March 2009 on STS-119/15A. He supported the experiment PROTEIN of Prof. D. Maes and Dr K. Decanniere (Free University of Brussels VUB, Belgium) and Prof. F. Otalora (University of Granada, Spain), which took place until July 2009, the PCDF Process Unit being returned on STS-127/2JA.
7. NANOSLAB and ZEOGRID on ISS (2001-2003)
In 2001 and 2002, he was the ESA Technical Coordinator for two facilities devoted to Zeolite experiments, NANOSLAB and ZEOGRID of Prof. J. Martens and Dr C. Kirschhock (Catholic University of Leuven KUL, Belgium), flown on the ISS during the Belgian Soyuz Taxi-Flight Odissea mission of October 2002. The Odissea mission was characterized by a very short time of definition, development and qualification of the scientific instruments (only six months between the experiment definition and instrument delivery).
From 2001 to 2002, he followed additionally a Phase A Study for another new facility, the Diffusion and Soret Coefficients Facility, that was flown on the ISS, allowing scientists to measure in weightlessness fundamental coefficients of diffusion of several fluid mixtures, including crude oils, to support the applied research of oil industries. He supported also the other physical science experiments: PROMISS (a digital holographic microscope to observe protein crystallization reactions), COSMIC (Combustion Synthesis experiment) and DCCO (Diffusion Coefficient in Crude Oils experiment).
Prior to the Odissea mission, he conducted the Acceptance Tests 1 with RSC Energiya at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in July 2002, and the Acceptance Tests 2 with RSC Energiya at Baikonour in October 2002, before final integration in the Soyuz module. In September 2002, he participated in simulations as Physical Science Coordinator at the Belgian User Support Operation Centre (B.USOC) and at ESTEC.
During the Odissea mission, NANOSLAB, PROMISS, COSMIC and DCCO experiments were performed in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) developed by ESA for NASA and installed in the US Lab. Destiny. The ZEOGRID experiment was performed in the ISS Russian Zvezda module. Pletser served as Physical Science Coordinator at the Taxi-Flight Operation Control Center (TOCC) at ESTEC. Due to a technical problem in the electronic box, the NANOSLAB experiment failed during the Odissea mission and was reflown successfully in October 2003 during the Spanish Taxi-Flight mission Cervantes during which he served again as Physical Science Coordinator at the Erasmus Payload Operations Centre (EPOC) at ESTEC.
8. AquaHab on Foton M3 (2005-2007)
From 2005 to 2007, he was the ESA Head of Project for the technical development of the AquaHab facility to study symbiotic processes between fishes and algae, flown on the Russian Foton M3 satellite. He coordinated the experiments of Prof. D.P. Haeder (University of Erlangen, Germany) and Prof. R. Hillbig (University of Hohenheim, Germany).
From April to September 2007, he participated successively in Mission Sequence Tests at ESTEC; Foton Integration Tests at TsSKB in Samara, Russia; Foton Integration Operations at the TsSKB-Progress MIK in Baikonour, Kazakhstan; and Foton M3 space flight mission operations as Deputy ESA Mission Manager in the Korolev TsUP Center in Moscow.
In 2005 and 2006, he served also as Chairman of the ESA Critical Design Review Board for another facility the Gradient Driven Fluctuation Experiment (GRADFLEX), flown on Foton M3.
9. Solution Crystallization Diagnostics Facility (SCDF) (2008-2012)
From 2008 to 2012, he was the ESA Head of Project of the Solution Crystallization Diagnostics Facility (SCDF), a continuation of PCDF type of research on structures obtained by crystallisation from solutions. He followed the Phase A and B Studies for zeolite experiments of Dr C. Kirschhock (Catholic University of Leuven KUL, Belgium), foreseen to be flown in 2014 in Columbus on the ISS. However, the project was interrupted in 2012 due to budgetary constraints.
10. Dexterous Manipulation (DEX) facility on Columbus (2009-2014)
Finally, Pletser followed as Head of Project from 2009 to 2014 the development of the Dexterous Manipulation (DEX) facility for investigations on prehension and manipulation experiments of Profs. J.L. Thonnard and P. Lefèvre (Catholic University of Louvain UCL, Belgium) and Dr J. McIntyre (University of Paris Descartes, France), flown in Columbus on ISS. He was actively involved with Belgian scientists in developing and testing various designs of the experiment chair and subject restraints in microgravity during several parabolic flight campaigns.
The development and testing of the DEX facility were successfully completed in June 2014, in time for its foreseen launch to ISS for deployment in Columbus. However, the Antares rocket carrying the Orb-3 Cygnus cargo spacecraft exploded just after launch on 28 October 2014, destroying all payloads on board, including the DEX facility. A DEX-2 has been rebuilt and was launched in February 2017 and is still flying on the ISS.
CSU EXPERIENCE (2016-2018)
Pletser was invited by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015 to join the Technology and Engineering Centre for Space Utilisation (CSU) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Beijing, China, as Visiting Professor - Scientific Adviser. He was the recipient of the International Fellowship Initiative of the President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Between April 2016 and March 2018, his duties at the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization were:
- Scientific Adviser for microgravity scientific and technology research and cooperative projects for aircraft parabolic flights and the future Chinese Space Station;
- Participation in future mission planning, including strategic study for the tentative manned Mars exploration programme of China.
He was nominated Chief Scientist of the Zero G Experiment Center (OGEC) of the CSU.
He participated in reviews of microgravity experiment proposals in Fundamental Physics, Material Sciences, Fluid Sciences and Biology proposed for performance on the Chinese Space Station. He took part in several meetings with Chinese Scientists to start the definition of microgravity instrumentation for the future Chinese Space Station and to prepare future parabolic flight opportunities for Chinese experiments. In particular, he participated in discussions on rodent facilities for space microgravity experiments of Academician Prof. Le Kang, of the Beijing Institute of Life Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
He participated in discussions to create a spinoff, ‘Beijing Space Europe’, for Chinese discovery public parabolic flights. He further coordinated and organized lectures by international experts at CSU and other scientific institutes in Beijing. He lectured at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), the Beihang Technology University and the CSU Summer School (2017).
He has published in Springer-Beijing a book on the preparation of future Mars exploration and another book on microgravity and weightlessness. He was invited as a Keynote Speaker and Guest of Honour of the First Chinese Science-Fiction Festival at the University of Beihang, Beijing.
