"Three. Two. One. Pull up."

三 二 一 拉高

- I'm experiencing 1.8gs right now, which means I weigh

我現在承受1.8G力

about 1.8 times what I normally would.

代表我的重量大概是我平常的1.8倍

I've been instructed to keep my head front and centre to avoid nausea.

他們要我頭擺正朝前 好避免暈機

But all this is about to change

但現在要開始變化了

because this is the European Space Agency's zero-g flight.

因為我坐的是歐洲太空總署的零G力航班

Those are students doing research.

他們是正在做研究的學生

This is Neil, who's here for my safety.

這是Neil 他來確保我的安全

And we're about to go into freefall.

我們現在準備自由落體

Whoa!

這是很詭異的事情

Whoa!

我們現在其實還在爬升

And here's the confusing thing.

那個鏡頭被固定在水平線上

We are still going up right now.

而我們在長達20秒的拋物路線上的第10秒

That camera is stabilised to the actual horizon,

才會飛過拋物線頂點 並開始朝地面飛行

and it's not until 10 seconds into our 20 second parabola,

要來了 1.8G力

into our manoeuvre, that we clip the apex and start heading

（Novespace飛行員） 這架特殊的飛機有三個軸

back down towards the ground.

俯仰、翻滾、偏擺

And here we go, 1.8gs.

一位飛行員操作一個軸

- In this special aircraft, we divide the three axes.

在其他的飛機 都是一位飛行員一次操作三個軸

There is pitch, roll and thrust,

另一位負責操作系統、使用對講機等等

and each pilot flies one axis.

要飛這種拋物線 就必須一個人操作一個軸

In every other aircraft, one pilot flies the three axes and

我們要避免任何亂流

the other one manages the systems, talks on the radio, and so on.

亂流是我們的惡夢

To fly parabolas, we need to fly only one axis by one pilot.

跟其他飛機一樣 兩隻操縱桿是固定在一起的

We try to avoid any turbulence.

（歐洲太空總署 拋物線飛行協調者） 這樣才能確保他們同時移動

Any turbulence is a nightmare for us.

（歐洲太空總署 拋物線飛行協調者） 其中一位飛行員有效利用

- The two control sticks, just like any plane,

在操縱桿兩側的橡皮筋

are completely locked together, so they always move at the same time.

好讓他不會影響另一位駕駛的軸

So one of the pilots is using

另一位操作俯仰 再另一位則操作翻滾

effectively elastic bands on either side of his stick

同時也避免打亂俯仰軸

so that he doesn't affect the axis of the other pilot.

1917年 阿波羅15號的太空人在月球做了一個測試

One of them does the pitch, the other one does the roll

是否所有物體 無論其重量 沒有空氣時都會以同樣的速度落下

whilst trying not to upset the pitch.

他們用了槌子和羽毛 兩者同時落地

- In 1971, the Apollo 15 astronauts tested something on the moon:

「你看看！」

The idea that all objects, no matter their weight,

但奇怪的是 如果太空人的槌子是用丟的

fall at the same speed if there's no air.

從離手那刻開始一直到落地瞬間

They used a hammer and a feather, and they landed at the same time.

槌子都會保持自由落體的狀態

ASTRONAUT: "How about that?"

唯一的引力來自月球

- But the weirdest thing is that if that astronaut had thrown that hammer,

不管它相對我們的速度或方向 這個計算都是正確的

it still would have been in free fall

這就是我們剛剛做過的

from the moment it left his glove to the moment it hit the ground.

聽起來可能很奇怪 但我們證實了

The only pull on it is from the gravity of the moon.

然後現在我們準備要再測試一次

The maths work out the same

每飛五到十次拋物線

no matter what speed or direction it's going relative to us.

為了保持最精準的拋物線

That's what we just did here.

我們會換手 尤其是俯仰軸駕駛 因為這是最吃技術的層面

If it sounds weird, sure, but we just proved it.

經過五到十次 飛行員會感到疲勞

And we're about to prove it again.

需要換到比較輕鬆的軸去做操作

- Every five parabolas or ten parabolas, we change

三 二 一 拉高

to maintain the best accuracy of the parabolas, especially

這種拋物線的操作不是一般空中巴士會做的

on the pitch axis because it's the most demanding flying technique.

而這架飛機的軟體並沒有為此做修改

So after five or ten parabolas, you are so tired and you

因為修改過程會非常耗工

have to go on to another less demanding axis.

所以一般的軟體 就會發出警示說

PILOT: "3, 2, 1, pull up."

「你們這樣做不是什麼好主意喔」

- This parabolic manoeuvre isn't the normal kind of thing

比較沒那麼忙的兩軸飛行員其中一位

that you do in an Airbus, and the software in this plane

就要把不重要的警示關掉

hasn't been modified because to do so would be a huge effort to re-qualify it.

並注意真正要緊的警示

With the normal software, you have the normal alarm

那些飛行員飛行的路線就是

saying, "This doesn't seem like a very good idea, guys,"

一個物體被拋向沒有空氣的空中會走的 而且時速是幾百公里

and one of the pilots that isn't too busy on the other two axes

他們讓乘客能夠在機艙的保護裡以零G力飛行

is turning off the alarms that we don't need to worry about

這架飛機的極速是飛機本身設計的限制

and keeping track of the ones we might need to worry about.

我們現在要達到極速還有其他限制了

PILOT: "Injection."

因為往地面下降的那麼快的時候

- So those pilots are keeping us on the exact path

飛機會很快的接近地表

that an object would take if you hurled it into the sky

謝謝 Neil

at hundreds of kilometres per hour and there was no air.

如果你是身在歐洲太空總署會員國的碩博士

They're giving us this little protective bubble of zero-g to fly around in.

想要成為後面這群人之一

There is no terminal velocity here, only the design limitations of the plane.

去看看Fly Your Thesis計畫

And we're going to hit those pretty soon, along with something else.

連結在影片下方資訊

Because when you're descending this fast towards the ground,

謝謝 Neil

the Earth approaches pretty quickly.

我可以 我可以 很好

Thank you, Neil!

要下來了

If you're a Masters or PhD student from an ESA member state,

and you want to be one of the people back there,

then have a look at the Fly Your Thesis program.

The link is in the description.

Thank you, Neil!

I got it, I got it, we're good.

And down.

Oooph.