July 15 - 20, 2001
We went to Bordeaux on a mission to lose our lunch and skip the last
couple of weeks of school. We succeeded on both counts.
Our trip was part of our entry to the 4th ESA
Student Parabolic Flight Campaign, with an experiment called Droplet.
After months of experiment design, modification, rabbit lunches, and so
on, we had finally secured ourselves on an aircraft designed to basically
turn off its engines in mid-flight... allowing us to free-fall up and down
2,500ft for 22 seconds of microgravity. Oh, and there was some science
involved.
So, with only a couple of weeks of school left, Dan, Sandra, Cody and
I left the class with the rest of the design project (my apologies again
to Greg, who had to finish the final edit and get it to the publishers
without any help), and we took off for Bordeaux. Our overnight train ride
to Paris, then TGV to Bordeaux was uneventful, until I bumped into a Camp
Tamakwa friend in Bordeaux (if only I could remember her name), confirming
that it really is a small world after all. Due to our lack of energy, and
our chronic skill for missing busses, we ended up checking into our accomodations,
and then spending a full day on a walking tour of the city with one of
the Spanish teams. To round out the day, we had a fine meal (designed for
cattle), at a cheesy casino we discovered near the campus.
Our second day was a little better. Novespace, the company in charge
of the aircraft, had all the teams work on equipment set-up. As ours was
a small experiment, this whole process took us half a day (with 2 days
allotted), which freed us up to go go-karting, have a very large
lunch, replete with a great Bordeaux wine (in a factory cafeteria!), and
to watch Shrek in the evening. This light schedule was the perfect preparation
for a busy three days of ups and downs...
Training Parabolae
After another morning of preparation (sleeping on hard tables), we were
finally ready for parabolae. After lunch. Back to the cafeteria we went,
and due to lack of good judgement, had a strong meal of entrecote de boeuf
(blue-rare beef, with sauteed onions), more wine, and a whole bunch of
lactose stuff for desert. Truly a meal to prepare for motion sickness.
Novespace normally provides its victims/experimenters with some anti-sickness
pills, but as this was to be a training flight, they decided to skip that
step. The flight was to have only five parabolae, with all the researchers
tucked comfortably into our seats. However, things were not to go so easily,
as the first flight was cancelled 20mins in due to a misbehaving elevator.
So, after a return to the airport and hours of lazing around, we were finally
aloft again (though slightly more concerned about our safety).
The flight plan on this inaugural flight was to head towards Brittany
(North, over the Atlantic), and this plan did not change despite the turbulence
predicted. So, five parabolas came and went, and they were incredible;
absolute weightlessness! Sandra didn't have quite so much fun, as did another
5-10 of our group of 40. Following our five moments of pure freedom, the
pilot decided to return to Bordeaux, under the deck of clouds. Why? to
add more turbulence, I think. All of a sudden, another 10 people started
losing their food. It was a mass-exodus. I was doing fine, and then I started
getting wafts of vomit-smell, and being very sympathetic to my colleagues
plight, I almost made a mess myself. Fortunately, after an otherwise uneventful
landing, I had the night off to sleep away my concerns.
Parabola 1
Finally the experiments could begin. Cody and I had elected to do the
first day of experimenting, with Dan and Sandra booked for day 2. Our protocol
went off without a hitch, and left both Cody and me with plenty of time
to enjoy our freedom. Spinning, herculean jumps, 2g pushups, and post-card
writing were all part of a day's work. 35 parabolae gives one quite a bit
of time. Now, I know I said that we had plenty of free time, but I should
have said that Cody had maybe a bit too much free time. Anyone who has
seen parabolic flights before has seen people play with droplets of water,
and we wanted to see this joy first-hand. So, without further ado (and
maybe some encouragement), Cody proceeded where no man should have gone
before. Bottle uncapped, somebody did a double loop, over another
team's computer, and landed close to one of the safety techs. They weren't
pleased, and nor were the pilot, the ESA people, and 10 other people who
approached me later and warned me against future tomfoolery. Good thing
we can re-enact it on video.
After another great lunch, with excellent St. Emillon wine, and a couple
of hours modifying our experiment for Parabola 2, we had the night off.
I had managed to convince a group of French experimenters to come to a
Kool and the Gang concert. Unfortunately, what I had missed from the ads
was that the concert was 1/2 an hour outside of Bordeaux, cost a small
fortune, and started earlier than planned. So, instead we went out drinking
'til late.
Parabola 2
All this time, Sandra had been debating whether or not she was up for
a full 35 parabolae, after her painful experience with the 5 trial shots.
Eventually (at 7:15 am), she decided not to risk it, which left me as the
alternate. So, with little sleep, and a slight hangover, I suited up for
day 2. Dan and I took it a little easier on ourselves, and were less rigorous
about scientific process (as we had plenty of data from Day 1, and this
was just gravy), so we spent much time enjoying free-fall. Maybe someday
I'll put the video online... The day ended beautifully, with an excellent
dinner and discussion with our Spanyard colleagues.
next, onto Provence...