>>12611074It's actually a bit more mundane than that.
Theres this concept in early planetary formation called the meter size barrier iirc and the gist is that we understand how very tiny particulates aggregate in proto planetary disks, and we understand that after a certain size (larger than meter sized) gravity between rocks becomes strong enough to make them aggregate. But we dont understand how the tiny particulates get to the point of and larger than the meter size barrier, and simulations dont show them aggregating either.
So we have this tray that can free float on springs that has simulants in it with very specifically chosen material properties, and by recording their long term aggregation it helps us better understand that. Additionally we can fire solenoids at the tray to put energy into the system to repeat the experiment.
I might have a video floating around of one of the trays in motion during one of the exos flights, we had a payload on board testing our cubesat hardware, let me see if I can find it.
