Development Report:
Microgravity Production for the Test Capsule Falling Through the Drop Shaft
Hideyo Sakurai*, Shinobu Saito**, Takao Azuma*
and Mitsuru Muto**
*Ishikawajima Noise Control Co., Ltd., 15-18, Hyakunincho 1-chome, Shinjyuku-ku, Tokyo, 169 Japan
**Ishikawajima -Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., 1-15, Toyosu 3-chome, Koto-ku, Tokyo, 135 Japan
The world’s deepest drop shaft facility for microgravity experiment, using a former coal mine shaft of 710m in depth was constructed at Kamisunagawa, Hokkaido, Japan in 1991. The rocket-shaped capsule, in which experimental devices are loaded, falls through the drop shaft and produces microgravity of approximately 1 × 10-5G for 10 seconds. This paper provides an outline of this drop shaft facility.
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