The 30th European Space Agency (ESA) parabolic flight campaign is ready to start from the Bordeaux-Mérignac airport aboard the special Airbus A300 Zero-G.
Three flights, each containing 30 parabolic maneuvers that create conditions of free fall, are scheduled for the mornings of May 15-17.
The ESA organizes this campaign to conduct research experiments in almost complete absence of gravity (microgravity) to prepare future experiments for the International Space Station.
The May campaign is the largest the agency has yet run in terms of number of experiments: 14 in all, including eight in the physical sciences, three in life sciences and three proposed by students.
The science of free fall
During a parabolic flight the aircraft performs a nose-up maneuver to enter a steep climb. This creates an acceleration of 1.8 G (1.8 times the acceleration due to gravity on the ground) for about 20 seconds.
Then the pilot reduces engine thrust to almost zero, injecting the aircraft into a parabola. The plane continues to climb till it reaches the apex of the parabola, then it starts descending. This condition lasts for about 25 seconds in which passengers and all unsecured equipment in the cabin float in the weightlessness resulting from the free fall of the aircraft.
When the angle below the horizontal reaches 45 degrees, the pilot accelerates again and pulls up the aircraft to return to a steady horizontal flight path. These maneuvers are usually repeated 30 times per flight.
During the weightless periods, the scientists aboard the aircraft can conduct brief microgravity experiments. With Europe and its international partners building the International Space Station -- where true microgravity research will be carried on for the next 15 years -- parabolic flights are crucial to the preparation of experiments, equipment and astronauts, allowing scientists to test experimental procedures before they are actually flown on a space mission.
Encouraging the scientists of tomorrow
The ESA runs two parabolic campaigns a year, for which scientists are regularly invited to submit experiment proposals for peer review and selection.
The space agency also includes experiments proposed by students in each campaign, in order to encourage the scientists of tomorrow to learn about experimentation in weightlessness and the extensive research opportunities the International Space Station will be offering.
After the May maneuvers, the next ESA parabolic flight campaign -- again with a mixed complement of experiments in life sciences and physical sciences, as well as some proposed by students -- is scheduled for October 2001.
Further information on ESA parabolic flights can be found at ESA's special parabolic flight Internet pages at :
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