The accelerometers that were oriented roughly horizontally show mostly vibrations. The accelerometer that was oriented more or less vertically is the most interesting. For the first 100 seconds, the plane is traveling horizontally at a steady speed. The accelerometer reads approximately 9.8 m/s2 (1 g). The plane then applies power and climbs, causing an acceleration reading of up to 1.8 g for a few seconds. The engines are then cut and the plane goes into a near free fall for about 25 seconds. The acceleration reading goes to near zero. Notice that the vibration is reduced on all three accelerometers during this period, because the engines are not working as hard. This pattern is repeated several times on this graph. The Lamar students' experiment was designed to simulate the tethered launch of a satellite in zero gravity and to measure the acceleration of the satellite. This is all part of a continuing project that will hopefully lead to the use of our accelerometers on a satellite in the year 2001.