Parabolic Flights

Parabolic Flights enable researchers to investigate changes under real microgravity (or “zero-g”).  A specially outfitted aircraft performs a series of parabolic flight maneuvers with the result of alternating phases of hypergravity and microgravity. The microgravity phases last for approximately 20 seconds, therefore several parabolic flights are performed consecutively to allow for thorough testing of the experiments.

With regard to human physiology research, changes in cardiovascular/hemodynamic function, fluid shift and thermoregulation are studied during parabolic flights as a model for microgravity.