Table 1.
Key parameters of different microgravity platforms.
| Platforms | µg Duration | Residual Acceleration |
Preparation Time | Cost Estimates [16] | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bremen Drop Tower: drop catapult |
4.74 s 9.3 s |
<10−6 × g <10−6 × g |
few months | ≈5 k€ | [17,18] |
| NASA Zero Gravity Research Facility | 5.18 s | <10−5 × g | few months | ≈5 k€ | [19,20] |
| Einstein-Elevator: drop lift/drop |
2 s 4 s |
<10−6 × g <10−6 × g |
n/a | n/a | [21] |
| Parabolic flight | 22 s | <10−2 × g | months | ≈125 k€ | [22] |
| Sounding rocket | 6 min, 13 min | <10−4 × g | years | >400 k€ | [23] |
| New Shepard | 3 min | <5 × 10−3 × g | years | n/a | [24] |
| Satellites, taxi flights | days to weeks | <10−5 × g | years | n/a | [25,26,27] |
| ISS, Tiangong | months to years | >10−6 × g | years | ≈1–5 M€ | [28] |
Abbreviations: Gravity (g); not available (n/a); million (M); seconds (s); thousand (k).