Rollercoaster science

The world’s largest aircraft for weightless research, the ‘Zero-G’ Airbus A300, took its 61st and last trip for ESA recently.

In its 17 years of service, the aircraft has hosted about 450 ESA experiments during 3500 parabolas totalling 20 hours of weightlessness, equivalent to 13 orbits of Earth on the International Space Station.

On a parabolic flight, researchers can conduct hands-on investigations in microgravity for up to 20 seconds at a time without going into space. And by changing the rate of ascent and descent, the pilots can even simulate different gravity levels.

To commemorate the aircraft’s retirement, ESA’s parabolic flight campaign manager Vladimir Pletser chose five notable experiments performed in varying levels of gravity.