The First Step Towards Colonizing Mars (or the Moon)

[Whitestar]

If we decide to one day collonize Mars or the Moon, I think it is absolutely essential to build habitats or domes that rotate. That way, people inside these dwellings won't be floating about. But most important of all, they also won't be losing any bone mass either, especially if they exercise daily. The gravity of Mars is only 38 percent of Earth's. All enigneers have to do is spin the domes to the point where it will be at about 62 percent gravity, thereby equaling that of Earth's. In addition, I think its vital to also install a series of cameras at the center of the dome where the gravity is zero. That way, if people suffer from motion sickness, all they have to do is close their window, activate a vid screen that will simulate any environment of their choosing such as a beach environment, accompanied with some sound effects of seagulls, and cranking up the a/c for some nice breezes.


Thoughts anyone?


Whitestar

 

[TsunamiJoe]

lol nice windows yah got there ;) but does that really cure motion sickness?

i don't know personally i think it would cost far too much, whereas you could just build a space colony or sommit

 

[Allah]

Seems Logical

Seems logical, but I would like to grow up in a low g environment because I would be taller.

 

[LURCH]

Actually, I think it would have to spin up to a full g. The lateral acceleration of a spinning habitat would not be added to the vertical gravitation of the planet.

 

[Njorl]

Actually, I think it would have to spin up to a full g. The lateral acceleration of a spinning habitat would not be added to the vertical gravitation of the planet.

I think you would need a sum of the squares. Spinning in the plane of the surface of the planet to make .92 g outward, combined with .38 g downward would yield 1 g. The architecture would be bizarre. Each floor would be a truncated cone.

Njorl

 

[Whitestar]

Actually, I think it would have to spin up to a full g. The lateral acceleration of a spinning habitat would not be added to the vertical gravitation of the planet.

If the dome were spinning to full g, would the gravity then be equal that of Earth's?


Whitestar

 

[TsunamiJoe]

according to what theyre saying it sounds like it would be a bit more than Earth's,

if they do do this, i could see the future soldiers haveing there own colony with higher g forces just to improove strength - is that logical?

 

[LURCH]

Njorl, you are absolutely right. The floor would have to be slanted in such a way is to be perpendicular to the sum of the two forces, and the rotation would only have to generate whatever Monte force is not being supplied by the ground.

Tsunami Joe, although living in higher G. forces sounds like it would be a way of developing greater physical strength, I have read that in reality it would lead to flat feet, prostate trouble, a host of kidney and intestinal complications, circulatory problems, and many other long-term effects that would not be beneficial to a soldier. Perhaps each trooper could spend a certain portion of his day (or maybe the entire day) in a high G. environment at the "lowest" level, which would be the level for this to the outside of the wheel. But at Taps, they would all climb "upstairs", to sleeping quarters closer to the center of the wheel, where gravity is 1 G or less. I'm not sure if this woodwork, but it would mean that the body is not subjected to the extra G. forces 24 hours a day.

 

[Whitestar]

Actually, I think it would have to spin up to a full g. The lateral acceleration of a spinning habitat would not be added to the vertical gravitation of the planet.

If the dome were spinning to full g, would the gravity then be equal that of Earth's?


Whitestar

 

[selfAdjoint]

I don't know how you want the dome spun. If it were spun around a vertical axis to produce an acceleration of g at its outer edge than that acceleration would be horizontal, away from the axis. You would still have the gravity of Mars or the Moon, acting down. Your net acceleration would be the vector sum of these. Say the downward acceleration was .25g, then the net acceleration would be 1.030776g slanted 14^o down from horizontal. (by trig).

 

[Whitestar]

I don't know how you want the dome spun. If it were spun around a vertical axis to produce an acceleration of g at its outer edge than that acceleration would be horizontal, away from the axis. You would still have the gravity of Mars or the Moon, acting down. Your net acceleration would be the vector sum of these. Say the downward acceleration was .25g, then the net acceleration would be 1.030776g slanted 14^o down from horizontal. (by trig).

1) If that is the case, what is the total percentage of artificial gravity?


2) What if you spin the dome horizontally? What would happen then?


Whitestar

 

[TsunamiJoe]

according to what I am perceiving, if you want to change the gravity that goes to keep you down, it would have to be horizantaly.

but I am no physics genious so this is just perceiving

 

[selfAdjoint]

Well if you had a drum rotating horizontally, obviouly half the time the people inside would be upside down. If you spun it for a constant g then the people on the top of the cycle would experience .75g (using my example of .25g for the planet) while on the bottom of the cycle they would experience 1.25g. Since the drum would have to spin pretty fast these variations would continually succeed each other at a fast pace. I would think that would make them pretty woozy. Might make a nice park ride though.

 

[TsunamiJoe]

lol they already gots stuff like that...not a g i don't think, maybe mroe though because the six flags place susposedly has a multi G ride or sommit

but as a semi side comment, what does the big thing that has a bunch of circles and they all rotate around you and your strapped into one of them and it spins also? astronauts train in em i think, just what does it do?