Novespace

Novespace, founded in 1986 and headquartered in Bordeaux, France, is a wholly owned subsidiary of CNES (Centre National d'Études Spatiales — the French space agency) that operates the Airbus A310 ZERO-G aircraft for parabolic flight campaigns providing microgravity research conditions and commercial zero-gravity experiences. The company is the primary European provider of parabolic flight services and has logged thousands of parabolas carrying scientific experiments and tens of thousands of research participants, astronauts, and public customers since its founding.

The A310 ZERO-G aircraft conducts parabolic maneuvers — a sequence of climbs and dives — where during the noseover and downward arc, the aircraft follows a free-fall trajectory that creates approximately 22 seconds of microgravity (0g) per parabola. A standard research flight includes 31 parabolas, providing researchers with approximately 11 minutes of cumulative weightlessness — sufficient to conduct fluid physics experiments, biological cell culture studies, material processing tests, and astronaut training exercises that would otherwise require a trip to the ISS. Between parabolas, the aircraft briefly subjects occupants to approximately 1.8g hypergravity during the pull-up, enabling combined hypo/hypergravity research in a single flight.

Novespace serves as the primary flight operator for ESA, CNES, and DLR (German Aerospace Center) microgravity research campaigns. These institutional research flights are flown from Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport (Aéroport de Bordeaux-Mérignac) and cover scientific priority experiments in fluid physics, combustion, biology, human physiology, and technology demonstrations selected through competitive research calls. Novespace operates approximately 6 research campaign flights per year plus commercial and discovery flights.

The Air Zero G service offers commercial and public discovery flights — typically 15 parabolas — where individuals and corporate groups experience weightlessness without requiring scientific credentials. These commercial flights fund the broader research infrastructure and have introduced zero-g to celebrities, journalists, and space enthusiasts. Novespace competes with Zero Gravity Corporation (the FAA-approved U.S. operator using a Boeing 727) and, for astronaut training specifically, with ROSCOSMOS's Il-76 parabolic aircraft.