Microgravity 101

What Is Microgravity? Microgravity is the condition where the force of gravity is not zero, but extremely small. Microgravity is typically between 1 thousandth and 1 millionth of Earth’s gravity. Despite what people say, the International Space Station isn’t in “zero-G”. It’s actually in microgravity. The astronauts feel weightless not because there’s no gravity, but because they’re in continuous freefall, orbiting the Earth at high speed. It’s like being on a roller coaster…forever. Why Does It Matter? In microgravity: Fluids don’t behave the same way (no convection, no sedimentation) (no convection, no sedimentation) Cells grow differently (cytoskeletons, morphology, gene expression) (cytoskeletons, morphology, gene expression) Combustion is strange (flames are spherical, oxygen diffuses differently) (flames are spherical, oxygen diffuses differently) Crystals form more perfectly (used in pharma, protein crystallization) For scientists and engineers, this means: Microgravi ... Read full article.