Subject:
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Re: Wings [was: Re: Building big]
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.space, lugnet.loc.au
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Date:
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Wed, 20 Jun 2001 00:30:41 GMT
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Viewed:
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17 times
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In lugnet.space, William R. Ward writes:
>
> To simulate lack of gravity, there are two techniques used. Both of
> these are used by NASA as part of their astronaut training program: • [snip]
> 2. Fly in the "vomit comet" - an airplane that goes very high up
> into the atmosphere, and then dives straight down, so that the
> occupants experience free-fall. This can only continue for about 30
> seconds, because otherwise the plane would crash. They then climb
> back up and repeat the cycle several times.
<Chuckle> Well, this is close, but not entirely correct :] The
airplane goes into a climb, and then in one fluid motion levels
and enters a dive. It's during the arced portion of the flight
that the occupants experience zero-G. It's the same idea as when
you drive over a hump in the road at a decent speed. You get
a little light and your stomach may feel funny. This is because
the arc makes you want to fly up, which counter-acts gravity
pulling you down. That's not a very good explanation, but without
pictures is about the best I can do. Another similar experience
is riding a roller coaster over the top of one of the hills.
The altitude doesn't matter. It's your speed and the radius of the
arc. Also, the arc has to be pretty "flat" to experience zero-G
for a decent amount of time. I believe they generally start with
about 15 degrees nose-up and progress to 15 degrees nose-down.
KDJ
_______________________________________
LUGNETer #203, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Wings [was: Re: Building big]
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| (...) There are no retro rockets used in an Apollo re-entry to Earth. Only the heat of friction and the parachutes slow the ship down from orbital speeds to the slow speed required for a safe splashdown. (...) If there was such a laboratory it would (...) (23 years ago, 19-Jun-01, to lugnet.space, lugnet.loc.au)
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