Through a campaign of microgravity experiments using parabolic flights, organized by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and the Aeroclub Barcelona-Sabadell, five Hypatia crew members tested the effects of weightlessness on their bodies and brains.
On May 8 and 9, the Hypatia analogue astronauts experienced up to 180 seconds of accumulated microgravity in the skies over Catalonia. The effect was achieved through a series of parabolic flights carried out in a Pitts Special S-2B aircraft operated by the Aeroclub Barcelona-Sabadell.
The goal was to reproduce one of the most difficult conditions to simulate in analogue missions: differences in gravity—an aspect that Hypatia had not previously investigated.
Parabolic flights involve flying the aircraft along a parabolic trajectory with zero lift, while the engine compensates for air resistance. This ensures that gravity is the only force acting on the plane. As a result, since the same condition applies inside the aircraft, microgravity (commonly known as “zero gravity”) can be experienced in the cabin for approximately 9 seconds.
The experimental campaign launched two lines of research. On one hand, in collaboration with Dr. Antoni Pérez Poch from UPC and the Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, an expert in parabolic flights, researchers will study the effects of microgravity on the astronauts’ cardiovascular systems.
On the other hand, Professor Elisa Raffaella Ferrè from Birkbeck University of London, a specialist in the effects of microgravity on the brain, will compare the cognitive effects of parabolic flights with those of the isolation conditions that the Hypatia III crew will experience in the Arctic.
Estela: A weightlessness indicator and Hypatia III’s mascot
Just as the mascot Rise traveled with the crew of Artemis II on its journey to the Moon, a few weeks ago the Hypatia Mars association organized a drawing contest for children aged 6 to 12 to design a mascot for the Hypatia III mission.
More than 200 proposals were submitted, and after nearly a thousand online votes, the winning design was selected: Estela, created by 9-year-old Sofía Sebastián Loktieva. This mascot, 3D-printed, not only will accompany the crew to the Arctic but also served as a microgravity indicator during the parabolic flights: when inside the aircraft entered zero gravity, the mascot floated.
As a prize, Sofía and her family had the opportunity to watch the parabolic flights at the Aeroclub in Sabadell, where they could see her mascot take flight and interact with the Hypatia crew, learning more about the experiments being conducted.
A pilot test for SpaceGenFish, a project bound for the International Space Station
In addition to studying the effects of microgravity on the crew’s bodies, the parabolic flights also served as a pilot test for the SpaceGenFish project, led by Dr. Laia Ribas, a researcher at the Institut de Ciències del Mar and a member of Hypatia I.
This project, selected by the Agencia Espacial Española and the European Space Agency, is one of the studies that will be conducted aboard the International Space Station. Its main objective is to explore the feasibility of aquaculture in space. Additionally, researchers will examine the effects of microgravity and radiation on epigenetics—that is, changes in the genetic information of fish caused by exposure to these conditions.
Overall, the parabolic flights and the research derived from them represent another step toward making Hypatia missions as close as possible to conducting high-level science in a real space mission. The aim is not only to test protocols and technologies, but also to understand how the human body functions in extreme environments and conditions very different from those on Earth.