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.
On January 14, 2004, the United States announced a new "Vision for Space Exploration," promising that humans would not only visit space but live there. Two decades later, NASA's Artemis program is preparing to return astronauts ...
Space Exploration
Nov 3, 2025
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Human health is the Achilles heel of space travel. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now succeeded in printing complex muscle tissue in zero gravity. This will enable drugs for space missions to be tested in the future.
Space Exploration
Oct 31, 2025
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Casting a swirling shadow, a glowing candle flame sways eerily before flaring up once more. As ghostly as it looks, this flame dance is not the result of any force—paranormal or otherwise—but rather the lack of one: gravity.
Space Exploration
Oct 31, 2025
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A new study into how spaceflight impacts the human brain and eyes revealed notable sex differences in brain fluid shifts, with female astronauts showing a greater reduction in fluid around the uppermost part of the brain ...
Space Exploration
Oct 29, 2025
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From dew at dawn to a foggy mirror after a shower, condensation is part of our daily lives on Earth. In space, microgravity alters how heat flows through gases and liquids, a potential enemy for spacecraft electronics needing ...
Space Exploration
Oct 23, 2025
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A world-first study has proven microbes essential for human health can survive the extreme forces of space launch. The study has been published in npj Microgravity.
Space Exploration
Oct 6, 2025
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Missions to the moon and Mars pose nutritional challenges for astronauts. Now, a new paper on space-grown food poses nutritional challenges for astronauts, but volunteers from NASA's Open Science Data Repository Analysis ...
Space Exploration
Sep 23, 2025
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Since the dawn of human spaceflight, scientists have carefully studied the effects of space and microgravity on astronauts. After decades of observations and examinations, one truth is certain: space is brutal on the human ...
Space Exploration
Sep 9, 2025
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Space changes you. It strengthens some muscles, weakens others, shifts fluids within your body, and realigns your sense of balance. NASA's Human Research Program works to understand—and sometimes even counter—those changes ...
Space Exploration
Sep 9, 2025
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New research presented at the 2025 European Society of Cardiology Congress in Madrid, Spain, has found a more effective way to conduct cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in microgravity, which causes the weightlessness astronauts ...
Space Exploration
Aug 27, 2025
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