Microgravity Flight Drawing Attention
Tokyo, Jan. 5 (Jiji Press)–Want to experience a state of weightlessness like an astronaut does? You could try the “microgravity flight” trip offered by Diamond Air Service Inc., an aircraft maintenance service firm based in Toyoyama, Aichi Prefecture, central Japan.
The trip, costing only 300,000 to 400,000 yen per person, requires simple medical checkups but no special training. To experience the weightless state, tour participants have only to take an airplane that flies high above the ground.
The state of microgravity occurs when the airplane rises to an altitude of 26,000 to 28,000 feet above the surface of the Earth and then nosedives to an altitude of around 21,000 feet, according to Diamond Air Service.
The airplane repeats the surge and dive five to seven times, in what is called a parabolic pattern flight, allowing passengers to experience a state of microgravity for about 20 seconds during each rise-and-plunge phase.
During that short time, the passengers’ bodies are suspended in midair like an astronaut’s. If water is splashed, it forms a sphere and floats around the cabin. But everything drops to the floor when the gravity returns.
When the airplane rises to the highest point in the parabolic pattern flight, the gravitational force and inertial force reach equilibrium to create the microgravity state.
Diamond Air Service initially provided such flights to staff members of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for experiments related to the construction of a space station. It started offering them to the general public in 2005.
The tour has proved popular among people with creative professions, such as computer game developers and cartoonists, according to the company.
An official at leading travel agency JTB Corp.’s space travel promotion bureau said that demand for microgravity flights is expected to increase as trips to space become more common.END
(c) 2007 Jiji Press English News Service. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.