PAPELL is a technology demonstrator experiment that is meant to carry on one of the research topics of Steve Papell. Steve Papell was a NASA scientist, who in 1963 had the idea to pump rocket fuel with the help of electromagnetic fields. Therefore, he invented a so called ferrofluid - tiny ferrite particles emulsified in oil or water – and a respective pumping mechanism.

The project team, consisting of members of KSat, revisits this concept and aims to demonstrate a general pumping mechanism. In early 2017, the participation in the High-Flyer student contest - "Überflieger" - of the German Space Administration DLR started and consequently, PAPELL was chosen as one out of three teams to send the experiment to the International Space Station (ISS). More on the High-Flyer student contest is written below.

The overall hull has a total size of 10x10x15 cm^3 and contains two areas in which the actual experiment takes place. The first area pictures an array of electromagnets and is supposed to demonstrate the feasibility of moving ferrofluid in microgravity. In a second stage, the aim is to find out whether it is possible to separate a single drop of ferrofluid within the magnetic field and merge them back together again.

In the second experimental area, it is to be examined if and how solids can be transported through a pipe system by using ferrofluid. The solids are implemented in the form of coloured beads which are, in a later stage of the experiment, aimed to be separated by colour. To this end, the pipe system contains a bifurcation, which is, through a specific programming of the ferrofluid motion, supposed to act as a separator.

The High-Flyer competition, organized by the DLR, provides student teams from Germany the opportunity to design their own experiment and send it to the ISS for operation. In orbit, the experiments are supervised by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst. Out of all applicants, the teams of the eight best proposals were selected by the experts and invited to present their experiment ideas at the selection workshop of the DLR Space Administration in Bonn. In the end, a total of three student teams were chosen to run their experiment on the ISS. Additionally, after completion, the students were given the opportunity to watch the launch of their experiment live on site.

The members of the student small satellite society of the university Stuttgart “KSat e.V.” proposed two experiments (PAPELL & STELLA) of which PAPELL was accepted and is now under development.