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Eventually, orbital stations and deep-space manned craft will have to incorporate some kind of rotating habitat within a fixed shell, akin to designs appearing
by blisterpeanuts 11y ago
Eventually, orbital stations and deep-space manned craft will have to incorporate some kind of rotating habitat within a fixed shell, akin to designs appearing in recent sci-fi flics. The superstructure of a spaceship would not rotate, but would contain a rotating element accessible from the zero-G axis.
An orbital station would likely be similar, with a rotating section and a stationary section, for ease of docking and to reduce the dangers of space walks (we don't want astronauts flying out the airlock at 1 g acceleration). I believe this was the flaw in the orbital station in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The criticism of centripetal force as a substitute for planetary gravity is that it has directional vectors of force that would make you dizzy every time you turn your head. Presumably, the larger the structure, the more subtle these forces become. Perhaps humans can get used to these lateral forces over time, if indeed it is an issue at all. Having the simulated gravity would be very useful, especially in medical situations but also simply for the purposes of maintaining bone density and muscular health, both of which suffer enormously in zero-G conditions over long stretches.
- pavel_lishin 11y ago> The criticism of centripetal force as a substitute for planetary gravity is that it has directional vectors of force that would make you dizzy every time you turn your head. Presumably, the larger the structure, the more subtle these forces become. Perhaps humans can get used to these lateral forces over time, if indeed it is an issue at all. I wonder if astronauts would develop "land sickness" that affects some people coming from cruises - constant dizziness when out of spin gravity.
- molsongolden 11y agoAlso, rotating cylinders might provide spin gravity without the lateral forces. Entry/exit access at the ends. The downside is the chaos that will ensue if the mechanism rotating the cylinder loses power and people/objects begin raining down. The raining down might only be an issue while under thrust though since objects might otherwise just float off the cylinder wall.
- AlphaSite 11y agoWould you need significant power once you're already in motion?
- ams6110 11y agoNo, just enough to overcome friction. What might be harder is keeping it all in balance. Also a large mass rotating is going to make directional changes for the entire spacecraft harder, due to the gyro effect.
- eric_h 11y agoI'm reading Neal Stephenson's Seveneves at the moment - it explores (in a sci-fi way, of course) what it would take to simulate 1g in orbit (with the rough equivalent of current space hardware).