Parabolic Flights with Aerobatic Airplanes: An Innovative Platform for Microgravity Research
- Paper number
IAC-09.A2.4.1
- Author
Mr. Jan Walter Schroeder, Astrinova, Germany
- Coauthor
Mr. Daniel Ventura-Gonzalez, Aeroclub Barcelona-Sabadell, Spain
- Coauthor
Mr. DIDAC ZURITA PIÑOL, Spain
- Coauthor
Dr. Fernando Sánchez Izquierdo, Centro de estudios Superiores de la Aviación, Spain
- Year
2009
- Abstract
Based on some pre-tests using parabolic flights with an aerobatic airplane to obtain several seconds of microgravity within the plane a measurement of the microgravity quality was done to make a statement about the scientific suitability of this innovative platform. Aerobatic flights are a special area of general aviation. It involves the rotation of an aerobatic aircraft about its longitudinal axis, the pitch axis or a combination of both. It is defined as precise manoeuvring in a three dimensional space. A parabolic flight is one possible manoeuvre that can be performed with the aircraft. During this parabolic manoeuvre the subjects and objects inside the plane cabin feel the sensation of weightlessness because they are in a free fall. The microgravity within the airplane lasts for several seconds and was already used for professional microgravity research. The quality of the microgravity is influenced by the aircraft environment like motor vibrations and varying air pressure due to the change of altitude during the parabolic flight and the ability of the pilot flying an accurate manoeuvre. This noise concerning the influence on the sustainability of an aerobatic aircraft to perform microgravity experiments was never measured in detail. To find out more about the characteristic of the microgravity quality a measurement set of different 3-axisis accelerometers and GPS way trackers were installed in an aerobatic plane, a CAP-10B. The measurement set was tested in pre-tests due to its sustainability to measure the quality of microgravity. A series of six parabolic manoeuvres were conducted at the Aeroclub Barcelona-Sabadell (Catalonia, Spain). Approximately six seconds of microgravity time per parabola were achieved, with less than 3.8g at pull-in and less than 3.2g at pull-out. During the flight time the data of the measurement devices were tracked and analyzed afterwards. Using parabolic flights with aerobatic airplanes has the potential to become a new innovative platform to perform microgravity experiments due its advantage of an economic price and short time preparation of a flight campaign and its possibility to perform life science experiments. In this paper we report on the results and show that the microgravity obtained with the performance of parabolic flights in an aerobatic airplane are sustainable to perform microgravity research. Keywords: aerobatic flights, microgravity experiments, parabolic flights, general aviation
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)