GiZero: A free falling capsule for short term low gravity experiments Original Research Article

Results from the feasibility study of the “GiZero” free falling capsule are reported. GiZero is a capsule designed to perform experiments in free fall from ballooning at stratospheric altitude. It is shown that the residual gravitational disturbances inside GiZero during 20 s of free fall are smaller than 10−12gHz. The study has been funded by ASI (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana) for the capsule to be operated at the balloon launching site of the Agency in Trapani-Milo (Sicily, Italy). GiZero is a vacuum capsule to be released from balloon at an altitude of about 40 km; it shields from air drag and solar radiation an experimental platform which can be released from the top of the capsule and recaptured at the opposite side after 20 s of free fall. We also describe in brief how GiZero could be used for experiments in fundamental physics, for applied sciences in microgravity conditions and for technological tests of hardware later to be flown in space.