THE TRANSFER TRANSPORT OF HEAT ENERGY INTO OR OUT OF A FLUID IS GOVERNED BY THE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OR THE THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY. THE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY IS THE MORE WIDELY USED TERM WHILE THE THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY IS THE MORE PHYSICALLY DESCRIPTIVE TERM. THERMAL TRANSPORT OF FLUIDS ON THE EARTH UNDER TERRESTRIAL GRAVITY OCCURS DUE TO BOTH CONDUCTIVE TRANSPORT AND CONVECTIVE TRANSPORT. CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSPORT DOMINATES FOR MOST PROCESS OR SITUATIONS ON EARTH. CONVECTION LEADS TO MORE EFFICIENT HEAT TRANSPORT THUS IN A GRAVITATIONAL FIELD HEAT ENERGY IS TRANSFERRED AT A HIGHER RATE THAN BY CONDUCTION ALONE. IN LOW-GRAVITY ENVIRONMENTS WITHOUT CONVECTION HEAT TRANSFER WILL BE LOWER AND HEAT TRANSFER RATES INFERRED FROM TERRESTRIAL MEASUREMENTS CANNOT BE ASSUMED TO BE VALID IN A LOW-GRAVITY ENVIRONMENT. THUS IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONFIDENTLY UNDERSTAND AND MODEL LOW-GRAVITY PROCESS TO HAVE ACCURATE VALUES OF THE THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY OF FLUIDS COMMON TO LOW-GRAVITY ENVIRONMENTS OR FOR MATERIALS THAT MIMIC FLUIDS USED IN LOW-GRAVITY ENVIRONMENTS. WE HAVE DEVELOPED THROUGH NASA SPONSORSHIP ON PAST PROJECTS THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY MEASUREMENT METHODOLOGIES THAT ARE PARTICULARLY SUITED TO EXPERIMENTAL CONSTRAINTS IN A LOW-GRAVITY ENVIRONMENT. THESE METHODOLOGIES REQUIRED ONLY A (NONTIMED) HEAT PULSE AND SUBSEQUENT TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS IN THE HEATED FLUID. FOR THIS PROPOSAL WE PLAN TO TEST THE OPERATION OF THE HARDWARE THAT HAS ONLY BEEN USED IN EARTH GRAVITY. WE WILL VALIDATE THE APPLICABILITY OF THE HARDWARE TO FUTURE LOW-GRAVITY MISSION TO SUPPORT EXPLORATION INITIATIVES. WE WILL TEST THE HARDWARE BY DETERMINING THE THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY OF WATER AND GALINSTAN. WATER IS A FLUID USED IN MULTIPLE PROCESS IN SPACECRAFT WHILE GALINSTAN REPRESENTS AN ANALOG TO POSSIBLE HEAT TRANSFER FLUIDS SUCH A LIQUID AMMONIA OR OTHER LIQUID METALS. BOTH WATER AND GALINSTAN ARE NON-TOXIC AND NON-REACTIVE AND REPRESENT GOOD CANDIDATE MATERIALS FOR EXPERIMENT VALIDATION BEFORE REQUESTING ADDITIONAL FLIGHTS WITH MORE COMPLEX SYSTEMS; SUCH AS FLUID PRESSURIZATION. THE CURRENT HARDWARE IS AT A TRL LEVEL OF 4-5 AND WE EXPECT AS THE COMPLETION OF THIS PROJECT THE TRL LEVEL TO MOVE TO 6-7. THE PLANNED LAUNCH DATA WILL BE JANUARY OF 2020.