Experiment

Means of Conducting Microgravity Experiments

Space is an idel place for conducting long-term microgravity experiments while microgravity environment can be obtained on Earth via several means. The means and the comparaison are shown in the table below.

Methods of microgravity experiments	Microgravity level	Duration	Information	Operation
ISS	10-4～10-6G	Weeks to several years		Utilization available
Aircraft	10-2～10-3G	10 to 25 seconds	Diamond Air Service	Utilization available
Drop Tower	10-3～10-4G	one to ten seconds	HASTIC (Japan) ZARM Drop Tower (Germany)	Utilization available
Space shuttle	10-3～10-5G	One to two weeks		N/A
Free flyer	10-5g or over	Depends on mission duration (about six months)	Space Free-flyer Unit (SFU)	N/A
Small rockets	10-2～10-3G	Several minutes	Space experiments by launching small rockets	N/A
Mir	10-3～10-5G	Weeks to Months	Russia's Mir Space Station	N/A