From March 15,Europe's"Zero-G"aircraft will start commercial flights offering true weightlessness without going to space.The ZERO-G Experience is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience true weightlessness.On the specially modified Boeing,parabolic arcs are performed to create a weightless environment allowing to float,flip and soar as if the traveler is in space.
Zero-G is a reduced gravity aircraft,a type of fixed-wing aircraft that provides brief near-weightless environments.Versions of such airplanes,nicknamed Weightless Wonders or"Vomit Comet",have been operated by the NASA Reduced Gravity Research Program.
The ZERO-G Experience is available starting at 5,980 euros($7,770)per person and includes 12-15 parabolas,a ZERO-G flight suit,ZERO-G merchandise,a Regravitation Celebration,certificate of weightless completion,photos and video of the experience.
France's National Centre for Space Studies(CNES)operates a specially-adapted plane with the firm Novespace,each of the flights carrying 40 adult passengers.
Before starting a parabola,G-FORCE ONE flies level to the horizon at an altitude of 24,000 feet.The pilots then begins to pull up,gradually increasing the angle of the aircraft to about 45°to the horizon reaching an altitude of 34,000 feet.During this pull-up,passengers will feel the pull of 1.8 Gs.Next the plane is"pushed over"to create the zero gravity segment of the parabola.For the next 20-30 seconds everything in the plane is weightless.Next a gentle pull-out is started which allows the flyers to stabilize on the aircraft floor.This maneuver is repeated 12-15 times,each taking about ten miles of airspace to perform.
In addition to achieving zero gravity,G-FORCE ONE also flies a parabola designed to offer Lunar gravity(one sixth your weight)and Martian gravity(one third your weight).This is created by flying a larger arc over the top of the parabola.
