Quantum Gases on the ISS Capabilities of the BECCAL facility*

BECCAL (Bose-Einstein Condensate and Cold Atom Laboratory) is a NASA – DLR mission dedicated to executing experiments with ultra-cold and condensed atoms on the International Space Station (ISS). BECCAL builds on the heritage of successful operation of atom optical experiments in microgravity, especially NASA’s CAL and the DLR funded QUANTUS program, covering experiments in the drop tower and on sounding rockets (MAIUS). CAL, installed on the ISS in 2018, offers experimental time to interested researchers for a variety of experimental campaigns. It is therefore an important milestone towards the realization of BECCAL. BECCALs main objective is to enable a broad range of experiments, covering atom interferometry, coherent atom optics, scalar Bose-Einstein gases, spinor Bose-Einstein gases and gas mixtures, strongly interacting gases, and quantum information. Thus, BECCAL is a unique multi-user facility for performing fundamental research in the microgravity environment of the ISS. In addition, it is a pathfinder for future quantum sensors on ground and in space. With this contribution we will present the capabilities of the facility and promote the involvement of the scientific community to develop and execute experiments with this unique instrument.