Blogging a Ride on the 'Vomit Comet'

An anonymous reader writes "Four Duke engineering students have launched a weblog to document their preparations and impending ride on NASA's 'vomit comet.' The students will study the effects of microgravity on the shapes of cells and the positions of their organelles, such as the nucleus. The schedule is subject to change, but the students expect to take their 12,000 foot plunges Monday in NASA's KC-135A. They plan to provide photos and video."

Comments

Re:How do they reduce gravity?

[Jason1729]

Anything in free-fall is effectively at zero gravity. The plane climbs to a high altitude and goes into a dive.

The ISS is at an altitude of about 370km. With Earth having a diameter of 6000km and using Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation, the gravity on the space station should be 88% of what it is on earth's suface. (6000/6370)^2.

The reason it is a zero gravity environment is because it is orbiting the Earth. That means it is effectively in freefall, always falling towards the Earth, but it has enough sideways motion that it keeps falling around the planet.

Jason
ProfQuotes

Sorry...

[lewko]

Step 1: Obtain NASA Grant
Step 2: ......
Step 3: Vomit!

Re:Kinda gross

[lewko]

If I'm not mistaken, the vomiting happens at the bottom of the arc. As such, you probably won't get to see video of zero-gravity vomit formations (hopefully to classical music).... Just some dudes sitting on the floor throwing up.

It was similar shenanigans which saw Barry Humphries (AKA Dame Edna Everage) banned as a teenager for life from an Australian airline - a ban which remained throughout his stardom and ended only with the closure of the airline.

His notorious "sick bag" prank involved carrying a tin of condensed soup onto an aircraft, which he would then surreptitiously emptied into an air-sickness bag. At an appropriate juncture, he would walk up and down the aisle pretending to vomit very loudly and violently into the bag. Then, he would proceed to eat the contents to the horror of the passengers and crew, many of whom would start vomiting (for real) as a result. Best...Prank...Ever!