[Southack]

"But large meant expensive, and also gave engineers design worries, Young related."

Nonsense.

They are all stuck in the 2001 Space Odyssey worldview of *indoor* gravity. That's complex.

But it's another thing entirely to spin a space-suited astronaut on the end of pole in outer-space. That's not complex. It's not heavy. It's not expensive.

It's just not indoors. The astronaut has to be suited, but we can give her 1 G of centrifugal force in outer-space.

[robertpaulsen]

Once on the way to Mars, the ship separates into two compartments, each at the end of a 2000' cable (or truss). Start spinning to simulate either Mars gravity or Earth gravity.

The cable has to be long enough to reduce the Coriolis effect, and strong enough to support the "weight"

The non-rotating center of mass between the two could contain navigation and communication equipment.

Here's a link to a 300K movie.

[jennyp]

But it's another thing entirely to spin a space-suited astronaut on the end of pole in outer-space. That's not complex. It's not heavy. It's not expensive.

It's just not indoors. The astronaut has to be suited, but we can give her 1 G of centrifugal force in outer-space.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!