Despite being weightless, the human subjects will still need to exert force to stand upright because a set of springs will be pulling them down. "During the experiments, the vestibular organ will sense weightlessness. The vestibular system sends signals primarily to the neural structures that control eye movements, and to the muscles that help us keep our balance. Together with the cochlea, a part of the auditory system, our vestibular system constitutes the labyrinth of the inner ear. "We think that a good understanding of gravity's role in our balance system may allow us to set up training programs for astronauts." Since gravity is one of the key inputs for our balance system, and on Mars will be very different from what we experience on Earth, you may be more susceptible to losing balance on Mars than you are on Earth." "Gravitation on Mars is one-third of that on Earth. Our research may prove useful for future space missions to alien planets like Mars. Why go through all this trouble? "Gravitational forces are an important input for our balance system," said Forbes. Each flight consists of thirty parabolas, and each parabolic arc generates about 20 seconds of microgravity. They will fly three days in a row next autumn. They are all trained in neuroscience and biomedical engineering. Such will be the faith of the master's and PhD students from the Erasmus Medical Centre and TU Delft that comprise the group. At that point, Forbes starts sending electric pulses through your brain. When the pilot lowers the nose, the aircraft starts following a ballistic trajectory. Restraining you, even more, are a set of springs together with a trampoline harness that pull you towards the floor. You experience twice the gravitational force you are used to on earth. Imagine being in an airplane steeply climbing with a pitch angle of 50 degrees. Several times a year the European Space Agency allows for researchers and students to perform experiments in weightlessness in an Airbus – nicknamed vomit comet – based at Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport (France). The team wants to find out how we stay upright, and what role gravity plays in our balance system, which is heavily influenced by the vestibular sensory structures set behind our middle ear. Patrick Forbes, a postdoc in the department of biomechanical engineering, will be leading a team of five students that have been awarded the opportunity to perform human experiments under zero-G conditions. But the most peculiar experiment has yet to come.ĭr. Free floating cats and tropical fish swimming in nose-down loops when in weightlessness strange things have happened on ESA's parabolic flights during the parabolic flight campaigns for students.
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