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Filipina space researcher shares 'zero gravity' flight experience

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Izzy Lee

ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA — What is it like to feel the pull off different gravities? Twenty-six-year old Filipina space biology researcher Florence Pauline Basubas shares her story.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/4/27/japan-startup-reveals-world-s-first-close-up-space-debris-image-1010">• Japan startup reveals &#x27;world&#x27;s first&#x27; close-up space debris image</a></div><p>On May 17, Basubas joined a parabolic flight just outside of Boston in the United States, exploring the effects of lunar, Martian, and zero gravity—pushing the frontiers of space research.</p><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-2" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/C7h4v7cOSIo/embed/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=540&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fnews-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A2%2C%22os%22%3A2342145%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="857" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-2" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><p>&quot;It&#x27;s called a parabolic flight because the plane goes up and down, over and over again. So it&#x27;s like when you&#x27;re riding po rollercoaster,&quot; Basubas explained.</p><p>As the representative of the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) for the Aurelia Institute&#x27;s 2023 Horizon Zero Gravity Flight, Basubas had the rare opportunity to conduct her experiments in microgravity.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/2024/5/1/sera-blue-origin-partnership-for-historic-space-mission-what-it-means-for-ph-851">• SERA, Blue Origin&#x27;s historic space mission: What it means for Philippines</a></div><p>&quot;It started as astronaut&#x27;s training, so for the astronauts to train and be prepared when they go out to space... Later on it&#x27;s also... to conduct experiments para malaman kung ano ba &#x27;yung nagwo-work at ‘di nagwo-work (experiments to find out what works and doesn&#x27;t work) in space with the different gravity,&quot; she said.</p><p>She was selected for this mission along with 19 other diverse individuals from different countries.</p><div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-0" src="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7c6DAJu54E/embed/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=540&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fnews-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A2316812%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="857" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-0" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe></div><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><p>The flight took place aboard ZeroG Corp’s G-Force One aircraft and departed from Pease Airport in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. G-Force Once is a specially modified aircraft designed to simulate different gravitational conditions through parabolic maneuvers. The plane&#x27;s trajectory created brief periods of lunar, Martian, and zero gravity.</p><p>&quot;Sa Martian gravity, when you jump, you don&#x27;t immediately fall... &#x27;Yung sa lunar [gravity] mas napi-feel mo yung difference kasi 1/3 lang siya ng gravity ng Earth. (In lunar gravity, you feel the difference more because it&#x27;s only one-third of Earth&#x27;s gravity). When I jump, it takes a little bit of time before I fall,&quot; she said.</p><p>Basubas added that zero gravity proved to be the most disorienting.</p><p>&quot;&#x27;Yung expectation ko is like we will be very elegant. It&#x27;s like everything very slow, but actually like every single movement that you make becomes somewhat a very big movement... Everyone was just like kicking people... Someone kicked my phone like directly kicked my phone out of the way,&quot; she said.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/classified-odd/2024/4/13/hopping-space-robot-will-help-explore-asteroids-1049">• Hopping space robot will help explore asteroids</a></div><p>&quot;During hypergravity we were told to just lie down para (so) we don’t become nauseous… When you’re lying down against the incline, parang nagha-handstand ka na naka-lie down ‘yung feeling (it felt like you&#x27;re doing a handstand while lying down),&quot; she added.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>EXPERIMENTS</strong></div><div> </div><p>During the flight, Basubas conducted five biology experiments using low-cost materials such as cardboard and tape.</p><p>Her experiments focused on growing bacteria in different environments to understand their survival mechanisms and how they might be used in future space missions. She highlighted the challenges of conducting experiments in altered gravity environments.</p><p>&quot;It was actually not easy... Meron silang foot strap so you can put your feet on hold while you&#x27;re doing the experiments... Pero even if you have the foot hold, parang napi-feel ko pa rin na yung upper body ko or anything was like moving around,&quot; she said.</p><p>(It was actually not easy. They had a foot strap so you can keep your feet in place while you&#x27;re doing the experiments. But even if you have the foot hold, I still felt like my upper body was moving around.)</p><p>Before the flight, Basubas and her cohort underwent extensive training.</p><p>&quot;We had training for a few months to prepare us sa (for the) parabolic flight. So we had classes, we had to learn different things – physics, how the body works. We also had classes po with two astronauts,&quot; she said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>PASSION FROM CHILDHOOD</strong></div><div> </div><p>Raised in Mandaue City, Cebu, <span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none">Basubas </span>moved to the United States for college and now works as a space biology researcher at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York and the University of Pompeu Fabra in Spain.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/3/24/nasa-touts-space-research-in-anti-cancer-fight-1047">• NASA touts space research in anti-cancer fight</a></div><p>&quot;I was wanting to be involved in space for some time, but I didn&#x27;t know how kasi (because) in the Philippines, we don’t have those opportunities,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;I was really feeling it was a tipping point in my life na that this is something that might change my career and lead me to the path that I wanted to do which was anything space medicine-, space biology-related,&quot; she added.</p><p>Basubas&#x27; passion for space started in childhood.</p><p>&quot;When I was young po – I think mga 6 years old ako – I really wanted to be an astronaut... I went to the US thinking I can do research, I can do biology afterwards,&quot; she said.</p><p>Basubas hopes her achievements inspire others, especially Filipinos.</p><p>&quot;Lumilipad tayo dahil may mga pangarap tayo (we fly because we have a dream)... I really hope that my flying can just show not just the Philippines but like the world that even us from small island can do something like this that we are capable of this,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;If there are young kids out there who are interested, they can see that I have done it and maybe they can do it too,&quot; she added.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO: </strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mV0XEikp0Y8?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>A Filipina space biology researcher had the rare opportunity to conduct her experiments in microgravity.</p>

A Filipina space biology researcher had the rare opportunity to conduct her experiments in microgravity.