ABSTRACT
While the utilization of space-based or flight-based facilities can provide longer-duration test times than can be provided by Earth-based facilities, access to these facilities comes with an associated significant increase in cost and often an associated decrease in availability. This chapter provides a brief overview of ground-based facilities that are able to provide periods of reduced gravity for the testing of various phenomena in many diverse disciplines. Drag coefficients have been developed and allow researchers to predict and plan for the effects of the aerodynamic drag, as required, as a function of an object’s geometry and the flow conditions present. Some of the earliest vacuum tubes were used to produce commercial outcomes in the late eighteenth century for the production of high-quality spherical lead shot. The drop corridor is the vertical extent within which the experiment is dropped to obtain free fall conditions.
