3 ms·

I always wonder why is nobody considering simply introducing "heavy" weights for every person to wear on planetary body like a moon? A sort of inverse-exoskelet

I always wonder why is nobody considering simply introducing "heavy" weights for every person to wear on planetary body like a moon? A sort of inverse-exoskeleton if you wish. For an average 75kg person, you'd need to add roughly 5x (375kg) to their weight to reach parity between Moon and Earth, which if done with iron or steel would need less than 50l of volume spread around the body. Heavier metals could be used for an even lower volume, of course (though you'd want to avoid poisonous metals like lead, mercury or osmium), though you might hit other bottlenecks (gold and platinum are 2.5x denser, and iridium even more so, but price comes into play — perhaps locally sourcing them on other "rocky" planets is more feasible). This does not resolve all of the issues mentioned in the article (like the effect on our internal organs, childbirth and such), but can definitely target a bunch of externally accessible muscles to keep them from getting atrophied. Perhaps this will be a cheap solution for those not living in the rotating megastructures. I should start collecting gold to be able to go sightseeing on the Moon.

noSyncCloud 4y ago
The additional mass will have tons of inertia, making ordinary activities like walking difficult, regardless of its current weight in the local gravity.
- necovek 4y ago
  That's a great point. Perhaps it would have to be an actual mechanized exoskeleton that is passive only downwards. No cheapo solutions for us plebs then. /me dumps all the platinum in the trash.
dghughes 4y ago
> This does not resolve all of the issues mentioned in the article (like the effect on our internal organs, childbirth and such) Yeah it would be like anchoring a balloon. Sure it's not going to float away but it's still a balloon. It's our internal jiggly bits that are important too.
- kleene_op 4y ago
  >It's our internal jiggly bits that are important too. For this I just have the right solution: extremely rich iron diet.
dTal 4y ago
Weights don't really accomplish much. The acceleration due to gravity is constant regardless of mass, so you would still have to bunny hop. And as a sibling comment pointed out, the inertia of all that extra mass would be huge, so actually moving would be 6x more difficult. You'd trip almost immediately, and the impact with the ground would hurt as much as on Earth, since you've calibrated your gravitational potential energy to be the same.
cardanome 4y ago
The already have a good solution for surviving in Zero-G: Exercise. We had people on the ISS stay for a year. I would also imagine the difference between zero gravity and little moon gravity to be quiet significant regarding keeping people healthy. Will long extended stays be healthy? No but that is a problem for the far future. I think the focus now should be to get the basic logistics in order. I am sure there would be enough people that would be willing to participate in a mission to Moon even if it meant a shortening of their lifespan. Nothing about the first colonization attempts will be pretty but colonization has never been very pretty in human history to begin with.
- deepdriver 4y ago
  Some long-term microgravity health risks are also short-term mission risks, like ocular problems and increased blood clotting. If a centrifugal habitat helps prevent these, so much the better.

noSyncCloud 4y ago

The additional mass will have tons of inertia, making ordinary activities like walking difficult, regardless of its current weight in the local gravity.

necovek 4y ago
That's a great point. Perhaps it would have to be an actual mechanized exoskeleton that is passive only downwards. No cheapo solutions for us plebs then. /me dumps all the platinum in the trash.

dghughes 4y ago

> This does not resolve all of the issues mentioned in the article (like the effect on our internal organs, childbirth and such) Yeah it would be like anchoring a balloon. Sure it's not going to float away but it's still a balloon. It's our internal jiggly bits that are important too.

kleene_op 4y ago
>It's our internal jiggly bits that are important too. For this I just have the right solution: extremely rich iron diet.

dTal 4y ago

Weights don't really accomplish much. The acceleration due to gravity is constant regardless of mass, so you would still have to bunny hop. And as a sibling comment pointed out, the inertia of all that extra mass would be huge, so actually moving would be 6x more difficult. You'd trip almost immediately, and the impact with the ground would hurt as much as on Earth, since you've calibrated your gravitational potential energy to be the same.

cardanome 4y ago

The already have a good solution for surviving in Zero-G: Exercise. We had people on the ISS stay for a year. I would also imagine the difference between zero gravity and little moon gravity to be quiet significant regarding keeping people healthy. Will long extended stays be healthy? No but that is a problem for the far future. I think the focus now should be to get the basic logistics in order. I am sure there would be enough people that would be willing to participate in a mission to Moon even if it meant a shortening of their lifespan. Nothing about the first colonization attempts will be pretty but colonization has never been very pretty in human history to begin with.

deepdriver 4y ago
Some long-term microgravity health risks are also short-term mission risks, like ocular problems and increased blood clotting. If a centrifugal habitat helps prevent these, so much the better.