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.
and Mitsuru Muto, “Microgravity Production for the Test Capsule Falling Through the Drop Shaft,” J. Robot. Mechatron., Vol.6, No.4, pp. 322-326, 1994.