Stratospheric Parabolic Flight Technology

Parabolic aircraft flights have long been productive and easily-accessed weightless test opportunities. The primary problem with parabolic flight testing is the residual acceleration environment, that is, the g-jitter from the atmosphere and engines. A secondary limit is that parabola duration is limited by the vertical component of the flight velocity at the beginning of the parabola. Proposed as a solution to these limitations is a three-flight program to develop stratospheric ultra-smooth parabolic flight capabilities of the High Altitude Shuttle System (HASS) of Near Space Corporation (NSC) and demonstrate the suitability of the stratospheric gliding parabolic flights for technology advancement and knowledge experimentation.

This technology provides ultra-smooth stratospheric parabolic flight with reduced g-jitter, allowing for high quality variable-gravity testing. It will benefit the commercial space industry and future NASA missions.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 5) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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