what is really needed to make artificial gravity ?

could we really be in space craft/stations and walk around as if normal Earth gravity was there ? ( as in all sci-fi films and t.v )

centrifugal force could be used to make artificial gravity i think



[Edited by dan_cope on 12/25/06 at 13:30]

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Originally posted by Giskard
yes, centrifugal force can be used to simulate gravity, though it creates problems with nausea, and present an engineering challenge

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The engineeringis not much of a problem. The cost is another story.

The centrifugal force will create gravity, but like the other posts there will be stress problems with certain structures (zero-gravity looks more attractive in this case) and the cost... lets just say that spinning space station u see in Space Odessy is a working progress

Why not spin a crew module of the international space station? Since the ISS is already spaceborne, all they have to do is fit the spin gear motors and gyros to a ready flying craft, so no cost for ground up launches necessary. A 2001 space odyssey station will be one notch up from that.

E

quote:

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Originally posted by Eridanus
Why not spin a crew module of the international space station?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Eridanus
Why not spin a crew module of the international space station? Since the ISS is already spaceborne, all they have to do is fit the spin gear motors and gyros to a ready flying craft, so no cost for ground up launches necessary. A 2001 space odyssey station will be one notch up from that.

E

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Spinning that thing is not wise i wudnt think.
It wasnt designed to spin and therefore does not have the capacity to safely do so.

Just to clear up something.... there is so such thing as centrifugal force, it is a fictitious force that arises due to the inertia of a body in circular motion. The force you feel as centrifugal is your mass wanting to continue on a course tangent to the circle.

As for artificial gravity, a space ring is the only current way of recreating the feeling of gravity outside of the Earth. If the graviton is ever discovered (or even exists) then graviton generators could be installed in the floors of spaceships and you would essentially have gravity without the gigantic space ring.

Rotation for gravitation has been thoroughly investigated. Current economics make the cost a show stopper, but the engineering is well understood.

If you make the diameter large enough and the spin slow enough, the side-effects become negligible. Some good info on this can be found at Permanent
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