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We really should be working on artificial gravity via spinning. It solves so many issues. I know smaller craft can’t do this but we can always do a long tether

We really should be working on artificial gravity via spinning. It solves so many issues. I know smaller craft can’t do this but we can always do a long tether with a counterweight. (My personal pet idea is to go for super low gravity like .05G to start out to simplify things. You still get to walk around, go to the bathroom, spill liquids and clean up, cook, etc. )

_Microft 3y ago
We have years of experience with both short and long-term missions in zero or micro gravity but we know a lot less about how low gravity affects the human body. We can hope that it is beneficial but what we actually need is a way to study it.
- simcop2387 3y ago
  And there's a very good chance that what we do know about zero/microgravity will still be beneficial with low gravity too. Definitely a reason to work on this even if we do ultimately wait until we have some kind of low gravity solution too.
Lord-Jobo 3y ago
https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts/houston-we-have-a-podcast/artificial-gravity/ https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts/houston-we-have-a-podcast/arti... This podcast covers a lot of the status on international studies for artificial gravity. "Now we did try to fly a centrifuge on station around 2009 or 2010. And again, it was the same international community and we put together an international proposal to do it on station. And it turns out after a lot of hemming and hawing and the U.S. was going to provide the crew and the integration, the Japanese were going to fly it and the Europeans were going to pay for the device and have it built, and flight certified. It turns out that the station really isn’t designed for that much vibration. So instead of just having a person laying there, we were going to have a person with a cycle ergometer that would spin and do the ergometer. And that much vibration was bad for the station and it was decided that you would have to have a very expensive vibration isolation system that the Europeans weren’t willing to pay for to be able to do it. So, we kind of lost the possibility of doing human centrifuge work on station at this time." So it looks like this is the current issue, and there is a large amount of work going into the physiological side of research to find out exactly what amounts and methods of artificial gravity achieve desired results.
- Teever 3y ago
  This all stems from the fact that the current cost to orbit per kg is too impractical to build a space station that is designed to rotate.
njarboe 3y ago
We really should be working on fusion powered rockets so we can just accelerate at .5g and get places quickly.
wing-_-nuts 3y ago
Spin tha drum beltaloada!
- ncr100 3y ago
  Fantastic. Love that sci Fi show.
- sandebert 3y ago
  Reading the books right now! (The Expanse, for the ones not in the know.)
bsder 3y ago
Isn't size and speed the issue? For a 50m radius don't you need about 10 RPM (rotation once every 6 seconds!)? That's actually right at the maximum dimension of the ISS, no? And you're going to feel the gravity differential if you aren't exactly on the rim. We'd have to get significantly better at building much bigger space structures before rotating them will be even remotely feasible.

_Microft 3y ago

We have years of experience with both short and long-term missions in zero or micro gravity but we know a lot less about how low gravity affects the human body. We can hope that it is beneficial but what we actually need is a way to study it.

simcop2387 3y ago
And there's a very good chance that what we do know about zero/microgravity will still be beneficial with low gravity too. Definitely a reason to work on this even if we do ultimately wait until we have some kind of low gravity solution too.

Lord-Jobo 3y ago

https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts/houston-we-have-a-podcast/artificial-gravity/ https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts/houston-we-have-a-podcast/arti... This podcast covers a lot of the status on international studies for artificial gravity. "Now we did try to fly a centrifuge on station around 2009 or 2010. And again, it was the same international community and we put together an international proposal to do it on station. And it turns out after a lot of hemming and hawing and the U.S. was going to provide the crew and the integration, the Japanese were going to fly it and the Europeans were going to pay for the device and have it built, and flight certified. It turns out that the station really isn’t designed for that much vibration. So instead of just having a person laying there, we were going to have a person with a cycle ergometer that would spin and do the ergometer. And that much vibration was bad for the station and it was decided that you would have to have a very expensive vibration isolation system that the Europeans weren’t willing to pay for to be able to do it. So, we kind of lost the possibility of doing human centrifuge work on station at this time." So it looks like this is the current issue, and there is a large amount of work going into the physiological side of research to find out exactly what amounts and methods of artificial gravity achieve desired results.

Teever 3y ago
This all stems from the fact that the current cost to orbit per kg is too impractical to build a space station that is designed to rotate.

njarboe 3y ago

We really should be working on fusion powered rockets so we can just accelerate at .5g and get places quickly.

wing-_-nuts 3y ago

Spin tha drum beltaloada!

ncr100 3y ago
Fantastic. Love that sci Fi show.
sandebert 3y ago
Reading the books right now! (The Expanse, for the ones not in the know.)

bsder 3y ago

Isn't size and speed the issue? For a 50m radius don't you need about 10 RPM (rotation once every 6 seconds!)? That's actually right at the maximum dimension of the ISS, no? And you're going to feel the gravity differential if you aren't exactly on the rim. We'd have to get significantly better at building much bigger space structures before rotating them will be even remotely feasible.