Gravity Induced Absorption Changes in Phycomyces blakesleanus and Coleoptiles of Zea mays as Measured on the Drop Tower in Bremen (FRG)

Abstract

Various spectroscopic experiments performed on the AIRBUS ZERO G in the years 2002 to 2007 clearly exhibited optical reflection changes as a result of gravitational changes (GIAC = Gravity Induced Absorption Change) in Phycomyces sporangiophores and corn coleoptiles. GIACs that occurred during flight parabolas in response to hyper- and microgravity were detected by a micro dual wavelength spectrometer (MDWS) for wavelengths pairs in the visible and the near infrared. We assume that GIACs indicate redox-changes of electron transport components such as flavins and cytochromes. Because microgravity on the AIRBUS 300 ZERO G only amounts to moderate values of ±4 ×10 − 2g, i.e. far below sensitivity of the MDWS, we performed an experiment on the drop tower in Bremen (Germany) that generates microgravity as low as 4 ×10 − 5g for 4.7 s. We detected small but significant GIACs during the microgravity phase, different in various specimen.