Politecnico di Milano and Université de Montpellier Launch COLIS

The behavior of complex materials, such as gels and glasses, determines their stability and properties over time. To better understand their evolution, a team of researchers from Politecnico di Milano and Université de Montpellier - CNRS decided to study them in space, where gravity does not influence internal processes.

This need led to the creation of COLIS (COlloids In Space), a facility, that is, a fully equipped experimental laboratory installed on the International Space Station (ISS) and dedicated to the study of soft and complex materials in microgravity. The project is part of the “Colloids in Space” program of the European Space Agency (ESA), with support from ASI and CNES.

COLIS is the result of more than twenty-five years of collaboration between Roberto Piazza, professor of Soft Matter Physics at Politecnico di Milano, and Luca Cipelletti, physicist at the Laboratoire Charles Coulomb of the Université de Montpellier – CNRS.

The laboratory uses optical dynamic correlation techniques based on the analysis of speckle patterns, small variations in the laser light scattered by the samples, which make it possible to observe how gels and colloidal glasses reorganize over time. It is also equipped with systems for controlled thermal stimulation, enabling precise monitoring of aging processes, and instruments to measure polarization fluctuations of scattered light—functionality also useful to groups at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel to study protein crystallization in microgravity, a key step to improving the stability of pharmaceuticals and biotechnological production.

COLIS was transported to the ISS by NASA. The facility is now fully operational and analyzes samples of gels and glasses made of colloidal nanoparticles, ideal for studying the internal reorganization and aging of materials.