Weightlessness

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Astronauts on the International Space Station display an example of weightlessness. Michael Foale can be seen exercising in the foreground.

Weightlessness is a phenomenon experienced by people during free-fall. Although the term zero gravity is often used as a synonym, weightlessness in orbit is not the result of the force of gravity being eliminated or even significantly reduced (in fact, the force of the Earth's gravity at an altitude of 100 km is only 3% less than at the Earth’s surface). Weightlessness typically occurs when an object or person is falling freely, in spaceflight, in deep space (far from a planet, star, or other massive body), in an airplane following a particular parabolic flight path or in one of several other more unusual situations.

The physics of weightlessness

Weightlessness occurs whenever all forces applied to a person or object are uniformly distributed across the object's mass (as in a uniform gravitational field), or when the object is not acted upon by any force. This is in contrast with typical human experiences in which a non-uniform force is acting, such as:

• standing on the ground, sitting in a chair on the ground, etc., where gravity is countered by the reaction force of the ground
• flying in a plane, where a reaction force is transmitted from the lift the wings provide (special trajectories which form an exception are described below)
• during atmospheric reentry, or during the use of a parachute, when atmospheric drag decelerates a vehicle
• during an orbital maneuver in a spacecraft, or during the launch phase, when rocket engines provide thrust

In cases where an object is not weightless, as in the above examples, a force acts non-uniformly on the person or object in question. Aerodynamic lift, drag, and thrust are all non-uniform forces (they are applied at a point or surface, rather than acting on the entire mass of an object), and thus prevent the phenomenon of weightlessness. This non-uniform force may also be transmitted to an object at the point of contact with a second object, such as the contact between the surface of the Earth and one's feet, or between a parachute harness and one's body.

Gravity is a field force which can usually be considered to act uniformly on the mass of all people and objects in the frame of reference. This assumption is valid when the size of the region being considered is small relative to its distance from the center of mass of the gravitational attractor. The small size of a person relative to the radius of Earth is one such example. In contrast, objects near a black hole are subject to a highly non-uniform gravitational field.

Terminology

Apparent weight

While the technical definition of weight is the size of the force of gravity acting on an object, humans experience their own body weight as a result of what is called apparent weight, or the reaction force applied to a person by the surface on which the person is standing or sitting. In the absence of this reaction force, a person would be in free-fall, and would experience weightlessness. It is the transmission of this reaction force through the human body, and the resultant compression and tension of the body's tissues, that results in the sensation of weight.

Because of the distribution of mass throughout a person's body, the magnitude of the reaction force varies between a person's feet and head. At any horizontal cross-section of a person's body (as with any column), the size of the compressive force being resisted by the tissues below the cross-section is equal to the weight of the portion of the body above the cross-section. (In the arms, the reaction force is equal to the weight of the portion of the arm below the cross-section, and is a tensile, rather than a compressive, force, just as in a hanging rope.)

Zero gravity

Often, the terms zero gravity or reduced gravity are used to mean weightlessness as it is experienced by orbiting spacecraft, but this is not technically accurate. Spacecraft are held in orbit by the gravity of the planet which they are orbiting. The sensation of weightlessness experienced by astronauts is not the result of there being zero gravitational acceleration, but of there being zero difference between the acceleration of the spacecraft and the acceleration of the astronaut. Space journalist James Oberg explains the phenomenon thusly:

The myth that satellites remain in orbit because they have "escaped Earth's gravity" is perpetuated further (and falsely) by almost universal use of the zingy but physically nonsensical phrase "zero gravity" (and its techweenie cousin, "microgravity") to describe the free-falling conditions aboard orbiting space vehicles. Of course, this isn't true; gravity still exists in space. It keeps satellites from flying straight off into interstellar emptiness. What's missing is "weight", the resistance of gravitational attraction by an anchored structure or a counterforce. Satellites stay in space because of their tremendous horizontal speed, which allows them — while being unavoidably pulled toward Earth by gravity — to fall "over the horizon." The ground's curved withdrawal along the Earth's round surface offsets the satellites' fall toward the ground. Speed, not position or lack of gravity, keeps satellites up, and the failure to understand this fundamental concept means that many other things people "know" just ain't so.

Microgravity

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Candle flame in orbital conditions.

The term microgravity is used to describe environments where the force of gravity is present but has a negligible effect. Objects in orbit are not perfectly weightless due to several effects:

• In Low Earth orbit, the force of gravity decreases by one part per million for every three meter increase in altitude. Objects which have a non-zero size will be subjected to a tidal force, or a differential pull, between the high and low ends of the object.
• In a spacecraft in orbit, the centrifugal force is greater on the side of the spacecraft furthest from the Earth. This is also a tidal force.
• Objects within a spacecraft will slowly "fall" toward the densest part of the spacecraft. When they eventually come to rest on the wall of the spacecraft, they will have weight.
• Though very thin, there is some air at the level of the Space Shuttle's orbital altitude of 185 to 1,000 km. This atmosphere causes deceleration due to friction. This has the effect of giving objects a small "weight" oriented in the direction of motion. Above 10,000 km, this effect becomes negligible compared to the effect of the solar wind.
• "Floating" objects in the Space Shuttle are actually in independent orbits around the earth. If two objects are placed side-by-side (relative to their direction of motion) they will be orbiting the earth in different orbital planes. Since all orbital planes pass through the center of the earth, any two orbital planes intersect along a line. Therefore two objects placed side-by-side (at any distance apart) will come together after one quarter of a revolution. If they are placed so they miss each other, they will oscillate past each other twice per orbit. If they are placed one ahead of the other in the same orbital plane, they will maintain their separation. If they are placed one above the other (at different radii from the center of the earth) they will have different potential energies, so the size, eccentricity, and period of their orbits will be different, causing them to move in a complex looping pattern relative to each other.

The symbol for microgravity, µg, was used on the insignia of Space Shuttle flight STS-107, because this flight was devoted to microgravity research.

Weightless and reduced weight environments

Reduced weight in aircraft

Airplanes have been used since 1973 to provide a nearly weightless environment in which to train astronauts, conduct research, and film motion pictures. Such aircraft are commonly referred by the nickname "Vomit Comet".

To create a weightless environment, the airplane flies in a six-mile long parabolic arc, first climbing, then entering a powered dive. During the arc, the propulsion and steering of the aircraft are controlled such that the drag (air resistance) on the plane is canceled out, leaving the plane to behave as it would if it were free-falling in a vacuum. During this period, the plane's occupants experience about 25 seconds of weightlessness, before experiencing about 25 seconds of 2 g acceleration (twice their normal weight) during the pull-out from the parabola. A typical flight lasts around two hours, during which 40 parabolas are flown.

NASA's Reduced Gravity Aircraft

Versions of such airplanes have been operated by NASA's Reduced Gravity Research Program since 1973, where the unofficial nickname originated. NASA later adopted the official nickname 'Weightless Wonder' for publication. NASA's current Reduced Gravity Aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas C-9, is based at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.

NASA's Microgravity University - Reduced Gravity Flight Opportunities Plan, also known as the Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program, allows teams of undergraduates to submit a microgravity experiment proposal. If selected, the teams design and implement their experiment, and students are invited to fly on NASA's Vomit Comet.

European Space Agency A300 Zero-G

The European Space Agency flies parabolic flights on a specially-modified Airbus A300 aircraft, in order to research microgravity. The ESA flies campaigns of three flights on consecutive days, each flight flying about 30 parabolas, for a total of about 10 minutes of weightlessness per flight. The ESA campaigns are currently operated from Bordeaux - Mérignac Airport in France by the company Novespace, while the aircraft is operated by the Centre d'essais en Vol (CEV - French Test Flight Centre). The first ESA Zero-G flights were in 1984, using a NASA KC-135 aircraft in Houston, Texas. As of March 2006Template:Dated maintenance category, the ESA has flown 43 campaigns. Other aircraft it has used include the Russian Ilyushin Il-76 MDK and French Caravelle.

Ecuadorian T-39 Condor

The Ecuadorian Space Agency jointly operates, with the Ecuadorian Air Force, the Ecuadorian Micro Gravity Flight Program, using a T-39 Sabreliner, modified in-house to fly "cybernetically assisted" parabolas. It has been in operation since May 2008. It is the first Latin American microgravity aircraft. On June 19, 2008, the plane carried seven-year-old Jules Nader as he set the first Guinness World record for the youngest human being to fly in microgravity. Nader worked on a fluid dynamics experiment designed by his brother, Gerard Nader.

Others

The Zero Gravity Corporation operates a modified Boeing 727 which flies parabolic arcs similar to those of NASA's Reduced Gravity Aircraft. Flights may be purchased for both tourism and research purposes.

In Austria, a company called Paul's Parabelflug offers parabolic flights, but they are prohibited from offering zero-g flights, and now offer only Martian and lunar gravity flights.^{[How to reference and link to summary or text]}

A company in Hungary briefly offered parabolic flights, but went out of business after only a few flights.^{[How to reference and link to summary or text]}

A Swedish company, Xero, planned to fly parabolic flights with the mammoth Ilyushin Il-76, but the person in charge of the project left the company, and the project was cancelled.^{[How to reference and link to summary or text]}

Reduced weight in pilot training

People have differing reactions to reduced weight sensations, and these reactions can compromise flight safety if an aircraft pilot is not trained to respond properly, particularly in an emergency. Normally in flight training, flight instructors will gradually introduce reduced weight maneuvers, while carefully monitoring the student pilot. Most students become accustomed to the sensation and are able to perform satisfactorily with some training. Students who are not able to overcome their anxiety are not able to complete flight training.

Ground-based drop facilities

Ground-based facilities that produce weightless conditions for research purposes are typically referred to as drop tubes or drop towers.

NASA's Zero Gravity Research Facility, located at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, is a 145-meter vertical shaft, largely below the ground, with an integral vacuum drop chamber, in which an experiment vehicle can have a free fall for a duration of 5.18 seconds, falling a distance of 132 meters. The experiment vehicle is stopped in approximately 4.5 meters of pellets of expanded polystyrene and experiences a peak deceleration rate of 65 g.

Also at NASA Glenn is the 2.2 Second Drop Tower, which has a drop distance of 24.1 meters. Experiments are dropped in a drag shield, in order to reduce the effects of air drag. The entire package is stopped in a 3.3 meter tall air bag, at a peak deceleration rate of approximately 20 g. While the Zero Gravity Facility conducts one or two drops per day, the 2.2 Second Drop Tower can conduct up to twelve drops per day.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center hosts another drop tube facility that is 105 meters tall and provides a 4.6 second free fall under near-vacuum conditions.

Humans cannot utilize these gravity shafts, as the deceleration experienced by the drop chamber would likely kill or seriously injure anyone using them; 20 g is about the highest deceleration that a fit and healthy human being can withstand momentarily without sustaining injury.

Other drop facilities worldwide include:

• Micro-Gravity Laboratory of Japan (MGLAB) – 4.5 s free fall
• Experimental drop tube of the metallurgy department of Grenoble – 3.1 s free fall
• Fallturm Bremen University of Bremen in Bremen – 4.74 s free fall

Neutral buoyancy

Weightlessness can also be simulated with the use of neutral buoyancy, in which human subjects and equipment are placed in a water environment and weighted or buoyed until they hover in place. NASA uses neutral buoyancy to prepare for extra-vehicular activity (EVA) at its Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. Neutral buoyancy is also used for EVA research at the University of Maryland's Space Systems Laboratory, which operates the only neutral buoyancy tank at a college or university.

Neutral buoyancy is not identical to weightlessness, but it is similar in that the astronaut is free to move all parts of their body. This is because the net buoyancy force that supports the astronaut is distributed widely over their body. Drag is also a significant factor when moving in a neutral buoyancy environment, whereas astronauts on EVA do not experience any drag.

Weightlessness in a spacecraft

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The relationship between acceleration and velocity vectors in an orbiting spacecraft

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Astronaut Marsha Ivins demonstrates the effect of weightlessness on long hair during STS-98

Long periods of weightlessness occur on spacecraft outside a planet's atmosphere, provided no propulsion is applied and the vehicle is not rotating. Weightlessness does not occur when a spacecraft is firing its engines or when re-entering the atmosphere, even if the resultant acceleration is constant. The thrust provided by the engines acts at the surface of the rocket nozzle rather than acting uniformly on the spacecraft, and is transmitted through the structure of the spacecraft via compressive and tensile forces to the objects or people inside.

Weightlessness in an orbiting spacecraft is physically identical to free-fall, with the difference that gravitational acceleration causes a net change in the direction, rather than the magnitude, of the spacecraft's velocity. This is because the acceleration vector is perpendicular to the velocity vector.

In typical free-fall, the acceleration of gravity acts along the direction of an object's velocity, linearly increasing its speed as it falls toward the Earth, or slowing it down if it is moving away from the Earth. In the case of an orbiting spacecraft, which has a velocity vector largely perpendicular to the force of gravity, gravitational acceleration does not produce a net change in the object's speed, but instead acts centripetally, to constantly "turn" the spacecraft's velocity as it moves around the Earth. Because the acceleration vector turns along with the velocity vector, they remain perpendicular to each other. Without this change in the direction of its velocity vector, the spacecraft would move in a straight line, leaving the Earth altogether.

Weightlessness at the center of a planet

If a person were able to survive at the center of a planet, they would experience weightlessness without any acceleration. This is because the force of gravity exerted by the surrounding planet would be the same in all directions, and would effectively cancel out, for a net force of zero.

More generally, the net gravitational force is zero everywhere within a hollow, spherically symmetrical planet. This is known as the shell theorem.

Health effects of weightlessness

Further information: Space medicine

Following the advent of space stations that can be inhabited for long periods of time, exposure to weightlessness has been demonstrated to have some deleterious effects on human health. Humans are well-adapted to the physical conditions at the surface of the Earth. In response to an extended period of weightlessness, various physiological systems begin to change and atrophy. Though these changes are usually temporary, long term health issues can result.

The most common problem experienced by humans in the initial hours of weightlessness is known as space adaptation syndrome or SAS, commonly referred to as space sickness. Symptoms of SAS include nausea and vomiting, vertigo, headaches, lethargy, and overall malaise. The first case of SAS was reported by cosmonaut Gherman Titov in 1961. Since then, roughly 45% of all people who have flown in space have suffered from this condition. The duration of space sickness varies, but in no case has it lasted for more than 72 hours, after which the body adjusts to the new environment. NASA jokingly measures SAS using the "Garn scale", named for United States Senator Jake Garn, whose SAS during STS-51-D was the worst on record. Accordingly, one "Garn" is equivalent to the most severe possible case of SAS.

The most significant adverse effects of long-term weightlessness are muscle atrophy and deterioration of the skeleton, or spaceflight osteopenia. These effects can be minimized through a regimen of exercise. Other significant effects include fluid redistribution, a slowing of the cardiovascular system, decreased production of red blood cells, balance disorders, and a weakening of the immune system. Lesser symptoms include loss of body mass, nasal congestion, sleep disturbance, excess flatulence, and puffiness of the face. These effects begin to reverse quickly upon return to the Earth.

Many of the conditions caused by exposure to weightlessness are similar to those resulting from aging. Scientists believe that studies of the detrimental effects of weightlessness could have medical benefits, such as a possible treatment for osteoporosis and improved medical care for the bed-ridden and elderly.

See also

• Artificial gravity
• Human adaptation to space
• Somesthetic stimulation

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Weightlessness

• Criticism of the terms "Zero Gravity" and "Microgravity"
• Microgravity flights on board the Airbus A300 Zero-G
• maniacworld.com "NASA Reduced Gravity Aircraft", videos of the NASA Reduced Gravity Aircraft and of participants in a flight on that aircraft.
• How Weightlessness Works at HowStuffWorks