We all know the pictures of the astronauts on the ISS floating around. We also suspect that a lack of gravity is bad for the body as the muscles go weak and such.

Why don’t spaceships just rotate to cause the effect of artificial gravity through centrifugal forces?

  • Luminous5481 "Enemy of the State"@anarchist.nexusBanned from communityEnglish
    11·
    2 months ago

    https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20070001008/downloads/20070001008.pdf

    At body motions or centrifuge rotation rates that are small in magnitude, the effects of the Coriolis force are negligible, as on Earth. However, in a centrifuge rotating at several rpm, there can be disconcerting effects. Simple movements become complex and eye-head movements can be altered: turning the head can make stationary objects appear to rotate and continue to move once the head has stopped. This is because Coriolis forces also create cross-coupled angular accelerations in the semicircular canals of the inner ear (see Figure 4-01) when the head is turned out of the plane of rotation. Consequently, motion sickness can result even at low rotation rates (<3 rpm), although people can eventually adapt to higher rates after incremented, prolonged exposure (see Chapter 3, Section 3.1).

    • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.deOP
      3·
      2 months ago

      although people can eventually adapt to higher rates after incremented, prolonged exposure

      🤨️ we’re talking 6 months travel time here, what do they mean by “prolonged exposure”

      • Luminous5481 "Enemy of the State"@anarchist.nexusBanned from communityEnglish
        7·
        2 months ago

        idk, but later they posit the minimum size of the spin station should be no less than 25m radius to achieve gravity without making the astronauts have to deal with motion sickness.