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In late 2004, the Zero Gravity Corporation became the first company in the United States to offer so-called "zero-g" flights to the general public, using Boeing 727 jets. Each flight consists of around 15 parabolas, including simulations of the gravity levels of the Moon and Mars, as well as simulation of complete weightlessness. [26]
Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight, i.e., zero apparent weight. It is also termed zero g-force, or zero-g (named after the g-force) [1] or, incorrectly, zero gravity. Microgravity environment is more or less synonymous in its effects, with the recognition that g-forces are never exactly zero.
Extra-vehicular activity (EVA), working outside the space vehicle, was one of the goals of the Gemini Program during the 1960s. The astronauts were trained in the “zero gravity” condition by flying a parabolic trajectory in an aircraft that caused reduced gravity for thirty second intervals.
In fact, it can be enjoyable to have zero gravity in the cockpit. To produce 0g, the aircraft has to follow a ballistic flight path, which is essentially an upside down parabola. This is the only method to simulate zero gravity for humans on earth. In helicopters. In contrast, low-g conditions can be disastrous for helicopters.
Aircraft used to create a weightless state for purposes of experimentation, such as NASA's "Vomit Comet", follow a vertically parabolic trajectory for brief periods in order to trace the course of an object in free fall, which produces the same effect as zero gravity for most purposes.
The green path in this image is an example of a parabolic trajectory. A parabolic trajectory is depicted in the bottom-left quadrant of this diagram, where the gravitational potential well of the central mass shows potential energy, and the kinetic energy of the parabolic trajectory is shown in red. The height of the kinetic energy decreases ...
Notable examples include NASA's Glenn Research Center 2.2-Second Drop Tower and the 146-meter ZARM Drop Tower in Bremen, Germany. [ 43 ] Parabolic flights , often referred to as "vomit comets," create repeated periods of microgravity lasting 20–25 seconds by flying aircraft in parabolic arcs . [ 44 ]
The trajectory then generalizes (without air resistance) from a parabola to a Kepler-ellipse with one focus at the center of the Earth (shown in fig. 3). The projectile motion then follows Kepler's laws of planetary motion. The trajectory's parameters have to be adapted from the values of a uniform gravity field stated above.