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FLIGHT LOG in in
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© Hergé-Moulinsart 2022

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Made in partnership with European Space Agency

ARRIVAL AT THE MEETING POINT
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Dear crew member welcome aboard the Tintin Zero Gravity flight.
We are delighted to have you with us. But before we go any further, let’s start
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at the beginning: the briefing.
You may not know it yet, but before each take-off, we are briefed

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on the technical and scientific instructions relating to the flight.
This notebook will allow you to prepare the mission.

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If you have any difficulties in completing it, do not hesitate 31st MARCH

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to consult the documentation available to you.

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A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

An ingenious https://www.airzerog.com/fr/

© ESA / NASA
science https://www.esa.int/Space_in_Member_States/Belgium_-_Francais
laboratory https://www.esa.int/Space_in_Member_States/Belgium_-_Francais/Laboratoire_ESA_en_chute_libre_destine_a_echapper_a_l_emprise_de_la_gravite
in space https://www.esa.int/kids/fr/Apprendre/La_Vie_dans_l_Espace/Vivre_dans_l_espace/L_avion_Zero-G_nous_aide_a_faire_des_experiences_de_gravite

Are you ready for take-off?

Location:
indicate here the name of the base

© Hergé-Moulinsart 2022
Date of flight:
enter today’s date here

Last name:

First name:

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 START OF BRIEFING

A zero gravity adventure

Read and then complete the text using the words below:
OBJECTIVE OF THE MISSION

FREE FALL • ZERO GRAVITY • ATTRACTION • WEIGHTLESSNESS• GRAVITY

Dear colleagues,

This is the commander speaking.

As you have known for a few minutes now, our mission today is to carry out a flight,
but beware, not just any flight, because this one is nothing ordinary.

Far from it, since we have to recreate the conditions of ………………………

or ……………………… that every astronaut experiences when in space.

Did you know that this condition occurs naturally when an object is in …………………?

© Hergé-Moulinsart 2022
In this specific situation, ……………………… exerts an ………………………
on objects and bodies while no other external force acts on them.

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Imagine now yourself seated inside an airplane in free fall. The seat under you is falling

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away and not exerting any longer a force to keep you in your place.

You are in free fall as well and appear to be weightless floating inside the plane!
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How can we simulate the phenomenon of Zero Gravity?

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The equipment in which we will embark in a few minutes will help us because

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it is a microgravity platform.

This means that it is a very sophisticated and powerful device, capable of artificially
reproducing conditions of very low gravity.

In addition to aircraft such as ours, which are said to have reduced gravity, other

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technical means exist. These include free-fall towers, capsules and sounding rockets.

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Each process has its own mode of operation, with its resulting advantages
and disadvantages.

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31st MARCH 2022

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OBJECTIVE OF THE MISSION

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Very often, it is the level of quality and the duration of microgravity that guides

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the scientific teams in their choice.

By the way, how much simulated weightlessness do you think each of them
is likely to offer?

To answer the captain’s question, assign each of the microgravity platforms

one of the proposed duration indications.
A • Free fall towers ………………… …
B • Sounding Rockets ……………
C • Aircraft …………………………………

© ESA – A. Le Floc’h
D • Space Station ……………………… 

1. several minutes not split up

© Hergé-Moulinsart 2022
ESA astronauts during a parabolic manoeuvre of the Airbus A310
2. a few seconds
Zero G
3. permanent state of gravity
4. fraction of the total period of zero gravity
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Okay, let’s get back to subject at hand and discuss the technical issues.

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Cockpit secret: the parabolic manoeuvre
Below is the flight plan prepared by the co-pilots.

Their graph shows very precisely the trajectory we will follow

and repeat to achieve the desired phases of zero gravity.

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The aircraft will perform a parabolic manoeuvre following the path

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of a flat, symmetrical curve in the shape of an inverted and flared U.

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© Hergé-Moulinsart 2022

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OBJECTIVE OF THE MISSION

As you can see, the captain got confused in his explanations...

In order to put them back in the right order, number each
of the steps mentioned above from 1 to 3.

This type of flight takes place in 3 successive phases during which:

❍ At the end of the parabola the nose of the plane is tilted downward 42 degrees
and the pilot gradually levels off the aircraft to a horizontal trajectory
as engine speed is increased.

❍ The pilot lifts the nose of the airplane upward from horizontal flight
to an angle of 50 degrees.

❍ As the aircraft travels upward in an angle of 50 degrees, the pilot reduces
engine speed and the aircraft follows a ballistic trajectory: the parabola.
Weightlessness begins when the aircraft enters the parabola during which
© ESA

it is in free fall.
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 © Hergé-Moulinsart 2022
E X P E R I M E N TA L P R O T O C O L

© ESA
Airbus takes off

Final instructions before take off.

A flying laboratory named Airbus A310 Zero G
A brief look back at the conditions of the first scientific parabolic flights.

These flights began in the 1950’s on fighter aircraft and two-seater trainers. Although these aircraft
were fast and particularly agile, they offered very little space to carry researchers and equipment.

In fact, in the early 1960’s, engineers in the sector began to equip larger aircraft. This was the birth
of the first flying laboratories.

More spacious, they carried all the instrumentation needed to record, measure and analyse
experiments carried out in zero gravity.

Moreover, it won’t have escaped your notice that our aircraft bears a striking resemblance

© Novespace/ CNES / DLR / ESA

to the airliners currently used by civilian airlines.

This is normal, since it is an Airbus A310.

While its exterior appearance has been preserved, its interior layout has been completely
modified to accommodate the largest experimental area in the world: a space of 100 m2. Airbus ascending
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 The diagram below gives you an overview of this particular configuration
as well as the list of equipment available to the researchers.

A few minutes before the briefing, the captain

listed on a loose piece of paper the main
resources available on board.

Due to the time constraints, he has not yet

E X P E R I M E N TA L P R O T O C O L

plotted them on the map below.

Can you help him to do this now?

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A • engine
B • cockpit
C • passenger seats
D • experimental area

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E • emergency exits
F • electrical outlet sockets

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G • mounting rails
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 Studying the effects of zero gravity

© Hergé-Moulinsart 2022
As you can imagine, the scientific missions that are carried out on board follow very precise protocols.

These are defined several weeks - or even months - in advance, because from the design to flight preparation,
including the construction, testing and validation phases, nothing is left to chance.

It is better that everything is ready when the time comes, because a zero gravity sequence only lasts 22 seconds.
A very short window of opportunity that leaves no room for approximation.

But rest assured, to significantly extend the experimentation time, we will perform 31 consecutive parabolic
manoeuvres during the flight, which will bring the total zero gravity time to about 11 minutes.

How do you think the captain reached this conclusion?

E X P E R I M E N TA L P R O T O C O L

Write down your reasoning and calculations here:

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Despite this constraint of duration and fragmentation of time, many phenomena could be observed.

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Terrestial bodies such as organisms (human, animal and plants), liquids or matter do not react in the same way
when subjected to gravity as when placed in a gravity-free environment.

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It is precisely this change in state or behaviour that scientists are trying to understand.

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The work carried out during parabolic flights has enabled new knowledge to be gained in fundamental physics,

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materials science, physiology and biology, for example.

These discoveries are already finding concrete applications in technology, industrial processes and medicine.
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Everyone levitating!
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Apart from the technical and scientific considerations
that have been reviewed, you should know that t
this flight remains above all a human adventure.

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As an individual, you will have a unique experience.
Extraordinary! Like no other. Halfway between dream
and imagination.

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Zero gravity is a kind of magical force, both invisible

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and imperceptible, which suddenly cancels out
all the weight constraints that we have always known
E X P E R I M E N TA L P R O T O C O L

and with which we live on a daily basis.

Thanks to it, everything floats in the air with

a disconcerting ease and lightness.

You experience new ways of moving and interacting

with the environment. Also, any object that
you accidentally drop is instantly suspended.
So beware of collisions!

Speaking of objects, here is the mascot

of our flight... or rather the subject of study
which gave its code name to the mission:
Tintin Zero Gravity.

© Hergé-Moulinsart 2022
This figurine is quite unique because
it is a prototype.
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 Inspired by Hergé’s drawings for the adventure, Explorers on the Moon (1954),
it was modelled in 3 dimensions by computer before being manufactured,
by stereolithography. A very complicated name for a volume printing technique
that consists of successively laying down and superimposing thin layers
of liquid synthetic resin.
This material has the particularity of being photopolymeric, which means that it solidifies
when exposed to UV rays. And thanks to it, the figure weighs only 88 grams!
Well, we know that if we were to send it to the Moon, it would weigh 6 times less
- 1/6th of what it currently weighs on Earth - yet it would still have exactly the same mass.
Incredible, isn’t it?
Well, enough of this chitchat, it’s time to get on board and see what acrobatic
choreography this one has in store for us...

The 3D modelling is carried out using software that allows the assembly
of primitive geometric shapes such as the cube or the pyramid, for example.
By finding the missing number in this logical sequence, you will discover
the number of hours required to print the Tintin prototype.
E X P E R I M E N TA L P R O T O C O L

26 20 22 ?

4 2 4 2
9 8 7 6

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 • 11 •
Made in partnership with European Space Agency
PAGE 3 PAGE 4 PAGE 5 PAGE 7 PAGE 8
zero gravity A. 2 3 22 seconds x 31 parabolic manoeuvres = 682 seconds / 60 = 11.366666
weightlessness B. 1 1 E A E
free fall C. 4 2 PAGE 10
gravity D. 3 B D
the answer is 16: 6+2 = 8 which is multiplied by 2 = 16
attraction
E C G E
F

© Hergé-Moulinsart 2022
TH E ANSWERS

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Imminent take-off...
Doors closing.
their seatbelts.
Boarding. Passengers are asked to return to their seats and fasten

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END OF BRIEFING
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