Posted on 11/26/2016 8:21:49 AM PST by BenLurkin
In the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick’s spacecraft spins through the solar system like a giant, futuristic ferris wheel. The rotating craft has a suitably epic quality and, through the centripetal force, conveniently explains why there appears to be gravity inside the spaceship.
In real life future astronauts may have to settle for a slightly less cinematic form of artificial gravity, however. Space scientists working on the problem have developed a large vacuum cleaner-like device that seals around the astronaut’s waist, creating the impression of weight on the lower body through a powerful suction force.
Alan Hargens, an orthopaedic surgeon at the University of California, San Diego who helped develop the lower body negative pressure (LBNP) device, describes it as “an early form of artificial gravity”.
“A centrifuge is probably the best thing we could give the astronauts, but it’s very expensive and there are also some safety issues with having a rotating device on a spacecraft,” he said. “This device works like a vacuum cleaner, so the person can exercise at their normal body weight.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Sucky idea.
Having retired from 45 years in aerospace, I assert we won’t ever send man to Mars.
Too damned expensive and nothing to be learned that robots can’t tell us for 1/10th the price.
Colonizing is a joke.
It WORKS because it SUCKS...?
And if it wasn’t working, that’d be cuz it DIDN’T suck...?
discovery did not rotate, it had an internal drum. the russian craft in 2010 did rotate. not sure centripedal force would work, especially if you toss something into the air.
Weightlessness is a minor problem.
This is the major problem:
Doh. So the upper body is subject to forces separate from the lower body. Sounds like a whole new host of internal problems. Sounds like a liberal idea. Physical dissonance.
Did Nanzi Pelousy have some thing to do with this?
You have to build it to see if it will suck?
What if you switch from suck to blow?
Take Rosie O’Donnell... That girl got gravity. Lesser people orbit ‘round that mass.
“So the upper body is subject to forces separate from the lower body.”
This happens on Earth too, and often involves alcohol.
“Colonizing is a joke.”
Tell that to the large fauna living 60 million years ago ...
Only those that use the power of the Schwartz can make it do that.
Which is precisely what forgotten Project Orion (canceled 1964) would have protected against with a double hull filled with water.
The “Ferris Wheel” from 2001 was an Earth-orbit space station, not a spaceship.
You know, it wasn’t exactly cheap or safe to get people across the ocean either.
Now we suffer if the 6 hour flight from NYC to London doesn’t have wi-fi.
It’s artificial but it’s not gravity. Will not prevent astronauts from suffering the effects of zero gravity. The rotating spacecraft would.
To give the feeling of gravity, wouldn’t the spin have to steadily accelerate? Once you were moving at the same speed as the spin, would you still have the sense of weight?
Really? Well, if there’s no way to justify manned exploration of Mars on a “COST BENEFIT” basis, then we should not do this.
Maybe there’s some intangible benefit to sending men to Mars??
Among other things, it’s such a long journey there. Didn’t it take spacecraft such as Mariner 4 and Voyager 9 months to a year to get to Mars? I could envision astronauts being gone for a few years in such a case.
It would be far easier to colonize the Sahara desert, Antarctica or the bottom of the ocean than it would be to colonize Mars.
Maybe in a few thousand years.
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