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 ...
Laz,
You are missing the point.
It is not about what is technologically possible.
The risk averse policies, drive design requirements that make the end objective financially unachievable.
When we can attain the same results with robots for 10% of the cost, you can’t justify sending man.
What are the theoretical benefits of sending man to Mars?
Real estate.
Real Estate is fake when it can’t sustain life.
This earth can easily sustain 4 times the current population once the Population Control crowd is unmasked.
The eugenics crowd don’t want third world populations competing for their own resources.
At the same time the “first” world is aborting and contracepting themselves out of existence.
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