![]() ![]() “It’s not a difficult equation but under the pressure of time it becomes a difficult cognitive performance task.” Klein is wearing a cap covered in electrodes to measure his brain’s activity while he and two others react to audio signals, use a keyboard, and solve a mathematical equation during the 20-second periods of microgravity. Student Timo Klein, from the German Sport University and the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia, is part of an experiment examining the brain’s performance and linking it to blood flow velocity. Six of the 12 experiments are part of Esa’s Flying Thesis programme. “When zero G stops,” Melville warns, “you don’t want to fall onto an experiment and break it.” Floor straps for feet and legs help maintain control in an upright position during the ‘action’ and prevent anyone drifting upwards into a dangerous position. Cuddly toys as mascots are hung from string on or near their experiments ready to float during weightlessness. The majority of scientists, however, can cope with these unusual work conditions. Most people, find the somewhat bumpy transition from 2G to normal at the end of the flight the most uncomfortable part, and on average about two people are sick per flight. ![]() So, technically microgravity is the more precise term for this experience, but zero G is catchier. Even in space, minute amounts of gravitational force remain because it is always present between two objects that have mass. This zero G (zero gravity) aircraft, owned by Novespace, is the latest one used by the European Space Agency (Esa) to perform science experiments in microgravity and, to a lesser extent, astronaut training. And I absolutely love it.Įveryone onboard is experiencing microgravity, which is what astronauts encounter on the International Space Station (ISS). ![]() It is a wonderful, liberating sensation and for 20 brief seconds, while someone less fortunate at the back of the plane grapples with a sick bag, I am floating. My body’s heaviness, increased by gravitational forces of 1.8G on the way up so it felt almost twice its normal weight, disappears. The noise level suddenly drops and the tone of the engine shifts higher as the aircraft free falls up and over the top of the arc. The plane is injected into a parabolic arc. Fortunately, in a few seconds, we will all experience something extraordinary.Īt 50 degrees the magic begins. I am lying on an area of floor cordoned off by netting.Įveryone is perfectly still because it feels as if a weight is pressing down, harder and harder, on every part of our bodies. Many are staring intently at washing machine-sized metal contraptions with switches and screens. Others, weirdly, have their arms inside open-ended boxes, and they appear to have three hands (more on this later). Several scientists are wearing caps covered in electrodes. In the middle section, where the windows are blocked by a padded wall, everyone is either standing, sitting on the floor or lying down because the seats in this Airbus A310 have all been removed. The aircraft pulls up from a level flight into an incline at increasingly steep angles of 30, then 40 degrees. The captain’s instructions refer to a manoeuvre so challenging it requires three pilots to be in the cockpit. For starters, everyone on board, apart from the crew, is a scientist and has passed a full medical check – including a heart assessment. Not many aircraft captains give their passengers a rocket launch-style countdown before take-off, but this is no ordinary plane. ![]()
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