3 ms·
I'm curious how much cost is added to the flight to Mars if they build a tether/rotating system on the spacecraft to simulate gravity. Seems like too much of a
by ohitsdom 11y ago
I'm curious how much cost is added to the flight to Mars if they build a tether/rotating system on the spacecraft to simulate gravity. Seems like too much of a health risk to forgo this and spend years in micro-gravity, although research is limited on the topic (the first two men in a year long study are at ~7 months in space).
- nickff 11y agoNASA has unfortunately been neglecting low-gravity (centripetal acceleration) research. The only research I am aware of in this area was conducted by the Soviet Union on mice, and (to the best of my recolection) they found that ~0.3G and relatively low RPM were required to maintain fitness. I agree with you that further work is required on this subject, as it could help future Martians to be healthier and more productive throughout their journey, but it does not seem to jive with NASA's current priorities. NASA has repeatedly rejected proposals for studies and experiments in this area.
- baobabaobab 11y agoNASA actually did a tethered artificial gravity experiment during Gemini with the target docking vehicle. They got it working, although they only spun it up to like .01g.
- nickff 11y agoFrom what I read, they were never even sure of what the centripetal acceleration (G-force) actually was, because of the uncertainty of the measurements. Either way, I suppose you could call this research, but I have always categorized this as a proof of concept of a potential research method. It should also be noted that NASA has had trouble with tethers in the past, due to vibrations along the wire(s) and orbital mechanics related issues.
- gizmo686 11y agoMinor nitpick, in the 1995-1996, Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov spent 437 consecutive days in space.
- ohitsdom 11y agoAppreciate the correction!