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I really want SpaceX to get into the end of life care market. I would much rather get on a one way rocket with big windows (that runs out of air after a few ho

I really want SpaceX to get into the end of life care market. I would much rather get on a one way rocket with big windows (that runs out of air after a few hours probably) than go to Hospice and die slowly over a few months or a year.

dahfizz 7y ago
A rocket launch is a very violent thing to experience. If you're months away from being dead, there's a good chance the G forces during launch would be too much for your body to deal with.
- AndrewKemendo 7y ago
  Still beats going out in a bed plus all the burial, cremation etc.
- Diggsey 7y ago
  There's a lot of vibration, but the G forces are not that high, and they are particularly low during launch. The highest G force is right before the main engines cut off, once the rocket is already in space, at which point you presumably don't care anymore... For falcon 9 you don't even reach 2G until more than 60 seconds into the flight when the engines throttle back up after passing through max Q. Acceleration graph: https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-23ba4a3fe7f535430bed80f039d3e720 https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-23ba4a3fe7f535430bed80... (from https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-acceleration-of-a-Falcon-9 https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-acceleration-of-a-Falcon-9)
  - livingmargot 7y ago
    The passenger would feel one extra 'g' from gravity itself. Meaning it would reach a total of 4.5G, which is substantial.
    - dandelany 7y ago
      Not without the ground pushing back against them, they wouldn't. Turn off the engines and the passengers feel weightless (because both vehicle and pax are accelerating earthward at 1G); therefore turn them back on @3.5G and they'll feel 3.5G, no?
      - strainer 7y ago
        That acceleration graph starts at 1G and goes up to 4.5 Freefall is 0G. The G force we feel is the difference between gravitational acceleration and our motion towards the center of gravity, so most of our lives we experience 1G. The complication is that gravitational acceleration doesn't feel like acceleration so remaining stationary in gravity does.
- gpm 7y ago
  Really? Old people are fragile, but a rocket launch is <3G [0], they could choose a gentle launch profile, and it's a nice constant force pushing you back into a nice padded seat. What damage is it actually going to do in the very short term (which is all we care about in this scenario). [0] https://i.redd.it/c05xe7b5infx.jpg https://i.redd.it/c05xe7b5infx.jpg
elihu 7y ago
I think that could be a major funding source for a Martian or Lunar colony. I could see people opting to live in low gravity if the accommodations are decent and the alternative is spending the rest of their life in a wheelchair.

dahfizz 7y ago

A rocket launch is a very violent thing to experience. If you're months away from being dead, there's a good chance the G forces during launch would be too much for your body to deal with.

AndrewKemendo 7y ago
Still beats going out in a bed plus all the burial, cremation etc.
Diggsey 7y ago
There's a lot of vibration, but the G forces are not that high, and they are particularly low during launch. The highest G force is right before the main engines cut off, once the rocket is already in space, at which point you presumably don't care anymore... For falcon 9 you don't even reach 2G until more than 60 seconds into the flight when the engines throttle back up after passing through max Q. Acceleration graph: https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-23ba4a3fe7f535430bed80f039d3e720 https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-23ba4a3fe7f535430bed80... (from https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-acceleration-of-a-Falcon-9 https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-acceleration-of-a-Falcon-9)
- livingmargot 7y ago
  The passenger would feel one extra 'g' from gravity itself. Meaning it would reach a total of 4.5G, which is substantial.
  - dandelany 7y ago
    Not without the ground pushing back against them, they wouldn't. Turn off the engines and the passengers feel weightless (because both vehicle and pax are accelerating earthward at 1G); therefore turn them back on @3.5G and they'll feel 3.5G, no?
    - strainer 7y ago
      That acceleration graph starts at 1G and goes up to 4.5 Freefall is 0G. The G force we feel is the difference between gravitational acceleration and our motion towards the center of gravity, so most of our lives we experience 1G. The complication is that gravitational acceleration doesn't feel like acceleration so remaining stationary in gravity does.
gpm 7y ago
Really? Old people are fragile, but a rocket launch is <3G [0], they could choose a gentle launch profile, and it's a nice constant force pushing you back into a nice padded seat. What damage is it actually going to do in the very short term (which is all we care about in this scenario). [0] https://i.redd.it/c05xe7b5infx.jpg https://i.redd.it/c05xe7b5infx.jpg

elihu 7y ago

I think that could be a major funding source for a Martian or Lunar colony. I could see people opting to live in low gravity if the accommodations are decent and the alternative is spending the rest of their life in a wheelchair.