Concordia researchers use zero-gravity flight to study conditions on Mars

KrzysztofSkoniecznycan laugh now, while reliving last month's rollercoaster-like rideaboard a Falcon 20 jet, even if it wasn't always pretty.

"They call these types of aircraft'vomit comets' and for good reason,"said Skonieczny, an associate professor atConcordia University's Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science.

"You get that rising feeling in your stomach."

But packing a few barf bags was a small price to pay when attempting torecreate Martian gravity here on Earth.

Skoniecznyand afew of his students were aboard the Falcon 20 aircraftwhen it performed a series of adrenaline-rushing parabolic arcs, three kilometres in height, above the national capital region.

It may have looked like aTop Gun audition, butthe tricky moves were designed to imitate a Martian atmosphere aboard the plane while a rover wheel prototype was observed.

The machine was placed insandbox filled with simulated Martian soil during the experiment.

Skonieczny's team monitored how well the wheel movedon the simulated soil in the zero gravity conditions,in hopes of getting a better idea how the ExoMars rover will manoeuvreon the Red Planet whose gravitational pull is one-third of the Earth's during its mission in 2020.

During the mid-air experiment, thewindows of opportunity to collect data was narrow.

"We would only have 20 to 30 seconds of reduced gravity in any individual go," said Skonieczny.

• NASA unveils Mars rover concept designed to carry people

Experiment inspired by failed NASAmission

The European Space Agency and Russia's state space corporation, Roscosmos, will oversee the ExoMarsmission.

Scientists will look to avoid the troubles encountered by NASA's Spirit rover, which got stuck on Martian sand, effectively ending that rover's mission.

It's with that failure in mind thatSkoniecznypartnered with theNational Research Council for this experiment.

The team installed a small camera overlooking the sandbox.

An automated system dictated the speed of the rover wheel prototype's movements on the simulated Martian soil.

"We're looking at the traction forces that the wheel was generating as we were driving it in these reduced gravity conditions,"Skoniecznysaid. "We also looked at the sinkage how far it was sinking down into the soil."

His team hopes to finish analyzing the data collected by its camera this summer, with a report on their findings expected next spring.