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#1 2004-11-27 09:47:23
- Dayton3
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- Registered: 2002-06-03
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Re: Wouldn't It Be Better To Go With 50% of 1 G? - Instead oif 38%
On the way to Mars, Dr. Zubrins Mars Direct envisions rotating the Hab module and the upper stage of Ares to create roughly .38G (Mars gravity equivalent) for the crew.
Now, this equals Mars gravity, but given that all the outside work on Mars would be conducted with a fairly heavy and rugged spacesuit on, wouldn't it make more sense to condition the crew to about half a G to more accurately acclimate them to what they will weigh on Mars with Martian gravity PLUS the weight of their suits?
Especially given the astronauts work on Mars would include considerable amounts of heavy labor?
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#2 2004-11-27 10:01:19
- Dook
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- Registered: 2004-01-09
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Re: Wouldn't It Be Better To Go With 50% of 1 G? - Instead oif 38%
From .38 to .5 is really splitting hairs. Either should be fine.
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#3 2004-11-27 10:29:20
- Rxke
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Re: Wouldn't It Be Better To Go With 50% of 1 G? - Instead oif 38%
IIRC the idea behind the .38 is to make the astronauts REALLY well adapted to Mars, so they don't lose time adjusting the first-arguably most mission critical-days on Mars.
Totally not my field, but I'd think the diff between .38 and .5 is significant, engineering wise...
Wouldn't the booms or cables have to be longer, to get increased g-forces?
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#4 2004-11-27 11:04:13
- John Creighton
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Re: Wouldn't It Be Better To Go With 50% of 1 G? - Instead oif 38%
Wouldn't the booms or cables have to be longer, to get increased g-forces?
without looking it up I thinking the acceleration is w*r where w is the angular velocity in radians per second and r is the distance in meters. So double the r to get double the g.
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#5 2004-11-27 12:01:47
- C M Edwards
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- From: Lake Charles LA USA
- Registered: 2002-04-29
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Re: Wouldn't It Be Better To Go With 50% of 1 G? - Instead oif 38%
Totally not my field, but I'd think the diff between .38 and .5 is significant, engineering wise...
Wouldn't the booms or cables have to be longer, to get increased g-forces?
The difference is significant, but not so much that it can't be done. The main mass difference comes from maintaining reliability under the greater wear and tear, not from withstanding the greater load. Remember, everything on the ship has to withstand 3G's during launch anyway. However, over three years, 0.3G's can do more damage than 3.0G's applied over three minutes.
"We go big, or we don't go." - GCNRevenger
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#6 2004-11-27 15:37:56
Re: Wouldn't It Be Better To Go With 50% of 1 G? - Instead oif 38%
I think gravity conditions reflexes. You get used to how quickly things fall, for example. You can then apply that information to heavy or light objects. So I'd stick to 0.38 gees and if I want them to experience the weight of space suits, just add weights or spacesuits.
-- RobS
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#7 2004-11-27 18:20:14
- Grypd
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- Registered: 2004-06-07
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Re: Wouldn't It Be Better To Go With 50% of 1 G? - Instead oif 38%
You can easily make a gravity of equivalent of 0.5g compared to 0.38 just by lengthining the connection that binds the two parts. I have always admired the creation that is two equal space masses that spin.
Chan eil mi aig a bheil ùidh ann an gleidheadh an status quo; Tha mi airson cur às e.
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#8 2004-11-28 10:04:17
- Gennaro
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- From: Eta Cassiopeiae (no, Sweden re
- Registered: 2003-03-25
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Re: Wouldn't It Be Better To Go With 50% of 1 G? - Instead oif 38%
You can easily make a gravity of equivalent of 0.5g compared to 0.38 just by lengthining the connection that binds the two parts. I have always admired the creation that is two equal space masses that spin.
Me too. We had better learn how to design these contraptions reliably soon, because until we can build fairly large spaceliners, cable-ships will be the prefered artificial gravity design.
I see it basically as a three step design evolution, depending on overall ship size. First, there will be tethers, later on as ships grow a larger, you can dispend with their flimsiness and design spaceships as "tumblers" (my terminology), meaning the ships will rotate along their length, with the crew compartment 'up-side down' at the far end from the main engines.
Lastly, you will have the gravity wheel/cylinder ships, which will be rather immense and impressive.
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