Microgravity as a research area encompasses the systematic investigation of physical, chemical, and biological processes under conditions of greatly reduced effective gravitational acceleration, such as in orbiting spacecraft, drop towers, or parabolic flights. It enables isolation of gravity-driven phenomena, allowing precise study of fluid dynamics, combustion, phase transitions, material solidification, colloidal behavior, and fundamental physics, as well as physiological and cellular responses to altered mechanical loading. Microgravity research supports development of validated models for transport processes, structure formation, and mechanobiology, and informs the design of space systems, countermeasures for human health in spaceflight, and advanced materials and processes with potential terrestrial applications.
It's common to see images of astronauts on the International Space Station exercising, running on special treadmills and pedaling cycles designed for tight quarters.
Space Exploration
Aug 12, 2026
0
34
From reaching for a cup of coffee to tying your shoelaces, gravity shapes nearly all human movement. So how do our bodies react when that familiar force begins to change? Texas A&M University researchers are exploring the ...
Space Exploration
Aug 8, 2026
0
129
You might think of rockets as powerful vehicles that blast astronaut crews and robotic missions into space. But what if they could be used to send cargo from one side of Earth to the other in a fraction of the time it would ...
Space Exploration
Aug 5, 2026
0
11
Imagine trying to swallow a sip of water while your face feels stuffed with congestion, your sense of taste is dulled and your body is floating 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth.
Space Exploration
Aug 3, 2026
0
11
The expense of launching cargo into space will plummet over the next few years, with the cost of reaching orbit forecast to more than halve between now and the end of the decade, and fall by around 93% by 2040, according ...
Space Exploration
Jul 14, 2026
0
27
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have switched on NASA's newly upgraded Cold Atom Lab, a one-of-a-kind facility designed to improve how scientists explore the fundamental workings of matter and develop new ...
Space Exploration
Jun 16, 2026
0
12
The UK Space Agency has announced an agreement with Vast—a US commercial space company—that could send British astronaut John McFall into orbit as early as 2027. If the mission goes ahead, he would become the first person ...
Space Exploration
Jun 14, 2026
0
30
A research team led by Davoud Jafari at the University of Twente, in collaboration with the University of Pisa, has completed a series of parabolic flight experiments to investigate advanced smart surfaces under rapidly changing ...
Space Exploration
Jun 6, 2026
0
32
After traveling hundreds of miles above Earth and spending months aboard the International Space Station, a University of Delaware experiment has returned to campus, bringing new data on how turbulence behaves in microgravity.
General Physics
May 28, 2026
0
35
China launched its crewed Shenzhou-23 spacecraft and eased it into a successful docking with a space station early Monday as part of Beijing's ambitions to send humans to the moon by 2030, state media said.
Space Exploration
May 25, 2026
0
29
