Christoph Lotz

• Dr.-Ing.
• Researcher at Leibniz Universität Hannover

The DESIRE project aims to test chameleon field theories as potential candidates for dark energy. The chameleon field is a light scalar field that is subject to screening mechanisms in dense environments making them hardly detectable. The project is designed to overcome this challenge. To this end, a specially designed source mass generates periodi...

The INTENTAS project aims to develop an atomic sensor utilizing entangled Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) in a microgravity environment. This key achievement is necessary to advance the capability for measurements that benefit from both entanglement-enhanced sensitivities and extended interrogation times. The project addresses significant challeng...

In this work we present an experiment in which we injected microspheres at low pressure into a capacitively coupled argon plasma chamber. The setup was located in the top point of the Einstein-Elevator drop tower in Hannover, Germany, where the microparticles reached their equilibrium position above the lower electrode during \documentclass[12pt]{m...

Understanding the effects of gravity on manufacturing processes is a pioneering extension of the process parameter space used to date. Until now, the improvement of manufacturing technologies has mainly focused on process parameters such as temperature, pressure, and material composition, as access to variable gravity environments is limited. The E...

The INTENTAS project aims to develop an atomic sensor utilizing entangled Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) in a microgravity environment. This key achievement is necessary to advance the capability for measurements that benefit from both entanglement-enhanced sensitivities and extended interrogation times. The project addresses significant challeng...

3D printing is one of the key technologies in space exploration. The disparity in gravitational forces between Earth and space presents both challenges and opportunities with regard to material handling. This paper examines the potential of employing ultrasonic levitation as a handling tool for substrate-free additive manufacturing processes in mic...

In order to develop hardware that can be used in space, tests under those space conditions are often important to ensure the functionality in advance. Facilities that are used to recreate gravity conditions of space include space stations, satellites, parabolic flights and earthbound facilities. Drop towers are earthbound facilities, that can repli...

This paper is about the challenges in developing the Laser Metal Deposition process with metal powder for use in microgravity. The modified gravitational conditions are set up for a few seconds using a drop tower, the Einstein-Elevator of the Leibniz University Hannover. In addition to the drop tower, the specially adapted setup of the experiment w...

Microgravity platforms enable cold atom research beyond experiments in typical laboratories by removing restrictions due to the gravitational acceleration or compensation techniques. While research in space allows for undisturbed experimentation, technological readiness, availability and accessibility present challenges for experimental operation....

Development of space proven technologies, fundamental research in microgravity and preparation of future space missions all benefit from next generation drop tower facilities like the Einstein-Elevator. The facility is being made available within a DFG core facility center in Hannover.

The applications of the additive manufacturing process Laser Metal Deposition include the production of near-net-shape parts, coating, joining, feature addition and, above all, repairs. This potential makes the technology interesting not only for applications on earth, but also for use in space. In the case of future space missions to Mars and beyo...

Research on basic physical effects in microgravity and the development of space-qualified technology for future missions is reaching its limits in existing facilities in terms of repetition rate, size and possible payload. In addition, Lunar or Martian gravity, for example, cannot be simulated or can only be simulated at great expense. This work ha...

Mankind is setting to colonize space, for which the manufacturing of habitats, tools, spare parts and other infrastructure is required. Commercial manufacturing processes are already well engineered under standard conditions on Earth, which means under Earth’s gravity and atmosphere. Based on the literature review, additive manufacturing under luna...

Material processing and material transport systems on Earth are designed for Earth's gravity and atmosphere. In order to pave the way for the future colonization of space, production technologies and transport systems are an essential factor in reducing costs and logistical efforts, such as in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). Laser-based additive...

Through the striving of humanity into space, new production processes and technologies for the use under microgravity will be essential in the future. Production of objects in space demands for new processes, like additive manufacturing. This paper presents the concept and the realization for a new machine to investigate microgravity production pro...

Increasing efforts to move into space have driven the need for new facilities that are capable of simulating weightlessness and other space gravity conditions on Earth. Simulation of weightlessness/microgravity (approximately 10^-6 g) is conducted in different earthbound and flight-based facilities, often with poor availability. Other conditions su...

Future microgravity experiments in the Einstein-Elevator of the Hannover Institute of Technology (HITec), which is currently under construction, could be disturbed seriously by external vibrations [1]. To avoid possible vibrations caused by the gondola´s guide previously, the behavior of the guide components such as rollers and guide rail is simula...

The Einstein-Elevator is a novel earthbound facility for conducting scientific experiments under microgravity. It is a modification of the classical drop tower, whose free-fall simulation is based on a novel and worldwide unprecedented drive and guide concept. An experiment placed in an evacuable gondola is vertically accelerated, then following a...

The Einstein-Elevator is a customized application of a classical drop-tower. A drop-tower is a structure that reproduces zero-gravity conditions for scientific experiments. These experiments are carried out inside a large vacuum chamber, which is dropped without the application of external forces. The major drawback of the established drop-tower te...