Video: Parabolic flights in the world's largest parabolic aircraft – research in microgravity
Since 1999, the German Space Agency at DLR has been organising regular parabolic flights for biological, human physiological, physical, technological and materials science research. The research aircraft, the A310 ZERO-G of the French company NoveSpace is used once or twice a year for scientific campaigns conducted by DLR, the European Space Agency and the French space agency CNES. A DLR parabolic flight campaign usually consists of three flight days with approximately four flight hours, during each of which 31 parabolas are flown. During each parabola, microgravity prevails for about 22 seconds. In total, a flight campaign provides about 35 minutes of microgravity –alternating between normal and almost double gravitational acceleration – which researchers can use for their experiments. Up to 40 scientists can take part in each flight, with between 10 and 13 experiments on board.