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People A Day in a Life 07:00
I wake up in a hotel room in Miami after a night of almost no sleep:
I spent the night going over the last two days, which we spent
assembling and calibrating the equipment for the experiment. The
system isn’t large, but it is complex: it includes optical systems, a
computer and a feed system of gallium, a liquid metal that reflects
light in our mirror. Since the gallium oxidizes easily, we pump
the system into a deep vacuum and fill it with ultra-high purity
nitrogen. All this must be capable of withstanding 9G.
8:00
I eat a light breakfast and take anti-nausea
medication. On a parabolic flight, the plane
performs 30 “arcs” – paths in which it soars
to an altitude of 12,000 meters and then
dives to 9,000 meters, creating 20 seconds of
microgravity. It’s like a rollercoaster ride: some
are unaffected; others vomit; and nausea makes
others a “total loss,” and they must be tied to
a chair and looked after. On previous flights, I
threw up once or twice but then recovered.
9:00
I arrive at the hangar at the airport and make
final arrangements for the equipment. I go
to the bathroom, because there are none on
the plane; we were even offered disposable
diapers (I declined). We get a plane ticket, as if
this were a regular flight, and receive a safety
briefing. Then I put on a special flight suit with
many pockets that are enough for everything
we need, including vomit bags.
11:00
We board the plane. Almost the entire plane is empty to make room for cargo, and it
is padded with a spongy material. Only the back of the plane contains 30 seats with
no windows. We sit down and buckle our belts, and the plane takes off and flies to
the special aerial space where it is permitted to perform parabolic flights.
11:30
The parabolas begin. During takeoff we reach 2G. My head
is very heavy, and I try not to move it so I don’t damage my
neck. Then comes the dive, which simulates microgravity:
The two first parabolas simulate the gravity of the moon;
the following three simulate the gravity on Mars; and the
next 25 simulate a complete lack of gravity.
34 | MEgazine | Faculty of Mechanical Engineering