Figure 1.

Images of platforms for conducting experiments in real and simulated microgravity conditions. (a) Parabolic aircraft (Airbus A310 ZERO G) operated by Novespace, Bordeaux, France. About 22 s of microgravity can be achieved during a parabolic flight manoeuvre. (b) Experimental area inside the ZERO G aircraft with different experiment racks. (c) The Chinese Long March 2F (Shenzhou 8 mission launched in 2011 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China). (d) The ZARM drop tower in Bremen, Germany. With a drop tower, approximately 4.5 s of microgravity can be achieved. (e) Payload of a MAXUS-sounding rocket (Kiruna, Sweden). A huge castor engine provides sufficient impulse to achieve microgravity up to 14 min. (f) Sounding rocket, TEXUS in Kiruna, Sweden, which enables microgravity for about 5–7 min. (g) Experiment capsule of the Foton-M No. 2 spacecraft with various experimental containers. (h) The Russian Soyuz-U rocket (Foton M No.2-mission, launched in 2005 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan). (i) Two-dimensional pipette Clinostat (Invented and developed by Jens Hauslage from the DLR. Samples in pipettes are rotated with a speed, which compensates the sedimentation of objects inside the pipettes. Sample fixation is achieved by tilting the rotation platform, so that the samples were simultaneously transferred into flasks with fixation reagent (the falcon tubes on the picture). (j) Two-dimensional Clinostat with attached microscope (Fluoreszenz Klinostaten Mikroskop; invented and constructed by Jens Hauslage (DLR) and Kai Waßer (DLR)). The microscope enables bright field as well as fluorescence microscopy. Both the instruments (i, j) are located in the microgravity lab of the DLR in Cologne and are available for external researchers.