About ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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Space in Member States
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Spain
Estonia
Finland
France
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
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Science & Exploration
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
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Enabling & Support
Making space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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How to Switch off Gravity ?
How to Switch off Gravity ? Weightlessness one of the experiences that makes every astronaut's travel into space so special.
Between any two objects with mass, there is an attractive force, and this attraction is called gravity. Its strength depends on the masses of the two objects.
However, 400 kilometres above our Earth, gravity is nearly as strong as on the surface. So where has the gravitational force gone on the ISS ? The answer is called free fall.
During a parabolic flight the passengers subject to its weight, the aircraft is in ""free fall"". This is the way to reproduce weightlessness, or microgravity in scientists's language, on Earth.
Every spacecraft is in fact launched onto a free-fall trajectory above the Earth. At a particular speed and altitude, this trajectory will be parallel to the curvature of the Earth, and the spacecraft will continuously fall freely towards the Earth. The spacecraft is ""in orbit"" , and the microgravity environment will be sustained for as long as it remain
How to Switch off Gravity ?
How to Switch off Gravity ?
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Weightlessness....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
