Undergrad Is Artificial Gravity Created on the ISS Due to Tidal Locking?

Click For Summary
The International Space Station (ISS) rotates on its axis once every 92.65 minutes, leading to a discussion about whether this rotation creates artificial gravity and contributes to its angular momentum. The ISS environment is classified as "micro-gravity," with gravitational effects being about one-millionth of Earth's gravity, influenced by tidal and centrifugal forces. While the spinning does generate some acceleration, it is a minor factor compared to the overall gravitational effects experienced within the station. The ISS maintains a Torque Equilibrium Attitude (TEA) to balance gravitational and atmospheric drag forces. Overall, the concept of tidal locking is primarily associated with gravitational effects rather than the ISS's rotational dynamics.
Myslius
Messages
124
Reaction score
5
When International Space Station is at rest, it revolves around it's axis once per orbital revolution (92.65 minutes). In other words, is tidally locked. Does the spinning around it's axis do create non-zero artificial gravity? Does it have non zero angular momentum?
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
The environment in the ISS is described as "micro-gravity", which means that gravitational effects are roughly of the order of a millionth of the gravitational field of the Earth. These effects include tidal effects (the higher side experiences a slightly weaker gravitational field than the lower side), centrifugal effects (the higher side is accelerating around the orbit slightly faster than the lower side and gravitational effects due to the local masses of the station components and occupants. Most of these effects are larger the further from the middle of the station.

The relative effect of spinning around its own axis during an orbit is a small part of that. You should be able to calculate the acceleration from ##r \omega^2## where ##r## is the distance from the axis of the rotation and ##\omega## is the angular velocity (##2 \pi## radians per ##93 * 60## seconds).
 
Myslius said:
In other words, is tidally locked.
A pointer. Not an actual answer to your question but since you mentioned,
Tidally locked is an effect of only gravity.

The ISS uses what is called TEA - Torque equilibrium Attitude - for its orbit.
Where the effects of gravity and drag from the atmosphere will tend to cancel each other out.

Better explanation here,
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/orientation-of-satellites.420947/
( where else, at PF )

Active control comes from gyros and propellant,
http://www.boeing.com/assets/pdf/defense-space/space/spacestation/systems/docs/ISS%20Motion%20Control%20System.pdf

Some data on the orbit, attitude variation,
Section 3.2 Page 14
http://wsn.spaceflight.esa.int/docs/201107/Annex1-ESA-ISS-CC-AO-Climate-Change.pdf
 
I do not have a good working knowledge of physics yet. I tried to piece this together but after researching this, I couldn’t figure out the correct laws of physics to combine to develop a formula to answer this question. Ex. 1 - A moving object impacts a static object at a constant velocity. Ex. 2 - A moving object impacts a static object at the same velocity but is accelerating at the moment of impact. Assuming the mass of the objects is the same and the velocity at the moment of impact...

Similar threads

  • · Replies 122 ·
5
Replies
122
Views
12K
  • · Replies 19 ·
Replies
19
Views
6K
Replies
5
Views
2K
  • · Replies 28 ·
Replies
28
Views
5K
Replies
19
Views
5K
Replies
47
Views
6K
  • · Replies 159 ·
6
Replies
159
Views
15K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
4K