Microgravity research during aircraft parabolic flights: the 20 ESA campaigns

Aircraft parabolic flights provide repeated periods of up to 20 seconds of reduced gravity during ballistic flight manoeuvres, preceded and followed by 20 seconds of 1.8 g. Such flights are used to conduct short microgravity investigations in physical and life sciences, to test instrumentation and to train astronauts before a spaceflight. Since 1984, ESA's Microgravity Projects Division has organised 20 parabolic flight campaigns using three different types of aircraft. More than 1700 parabolas have been flown, representing nine and half hours of microgravity in slices of 20 seconds, or equivalently, six low Earth orbits. A total of 235 experiments have been performed using this unique microgravity tool.