Tintin And Snowy Just Took To The Skies. What Is Their Space Mission About?
Tintin and Snowy took a parabolic flight on board the Airbus A310 ZeroG, experiencing sensations of weightlessness for a few minutes at more than 26,246 feet.
New Delhi: Tintin and Snowy just took to the skies, to carry out their mission in space, "Tintin Zero Gravity".
They took a parabolic flight on board the Airbus A310 ZeroG, experiencing sensations of weightlessness for a few minutes at more than 26,246 feet.
The European Space Agency (ESA) collaborated with Belgian company Moulinsart, to arrange the parabolic flight on March 31, 2022, according to Tintin's official website. Moulinsart is the company which has been set up to protect and promote the work of Hergé, Tintin's creator.
Tintin is a Belgian reporter, adventurer, traveller and the titular protagonist of the popular comic book series The Adventures of Tintin, written by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, also known as Hergé. Snowy is a wire fox terrier, and Tintin's companion on his adventures. They share a strong bond, and have saved each other's lives on numerous occasions.
Parabolic flights, also known as zero-gravity flights, are the flights which reproduce gravity-free conditions in an aircraft. They provide a microgravity environment for scientists to conduct research without going to space. During a parabolic flight, pilots make a specific manoeuvre, called the parabolic manoeuvre, several times to recreate a state of weightlessness inside the aircraft for 22 seconds.
The manoeuvre is repeated 31 times for scientific research Zero-G flights.
According to NASA, parabolic flights are a gateway to weightlessness, and are dedicated to scientific experiments.
What Is The Space Mission About?
Prototype figurines of Tintin and Snowy, inspired by Hergé's drawings for the adventure, Explorers on the Moon (1954), were created for the space mission, "Tintin Zero Gravity".
Ultralight materials were used to manufacture the figurines. They were modelled in three dimensions in a computer before being manufactured, using a technique called stereolithography, which consists of successively laying down and superimposing thin layers of liquid synthetic resin.
Surprisingly, Tintin's figurine weighs only 88 grams. If Tintin’s figurine is sent to the Moon, it would weigh one-sixth of what it currently weighs on Earth.
In Explorers on the Moon, Tintin landed on the lunar surface, making him the first person to set foot on Earth's natural satellite.
Tintin and Snowy have also been awarded a certificate for the successful completion of their first parabolic flight, launched from the Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport in France.
The parabolic flight marks the inauguration of the partnership between the ESA and Moulinsart, which will see Tintin return to experience new adventures. It is a collaboration promoting exploration and research and raising awareness of space adventures among young people, according to the official website.
Tintin will also be sent on future ESA missions in order to conduct research in low-Earth orbit, and will also be launched to the Moon and Mars.
The aim of the initiative was to experience with Tintin the effects of weightlessness on the body and neurological systems that astronauts experience during space flight.
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