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?
You would need a pretty large radius to generate stable rotational gravity. If the radius is too small, the speed of rotation would make standing or walking nearly impossible. The larger the radius, the more imperceptible the rotational effects would be.
ok so i did some calculations:
If your ship is 9 m in diameter (just chosen at random, not because Starship is by chance 9 m in diameter)
that means x = r*cos(omega*t) and x’’ = r*omega^2*-cos(omega*t) = 1g for t = 0 implies r*omega^2 = 10 m/s², r ≈ 4.5 m, omega ≈ 1.5 rad/s
so the ship would have to rotate with roughly 0.24 rotations per second or 14 rpm. seems doable to me. the outer walls would move with 6.7 m/s or 24 km/h.
LOL of course it is doable to create rotation. But is it no good if living there is still unbearable.
I recommend you do some sea traveling, just a few months on a cargo ship on several oceans.
Doable, not practical. Another major concern is the induced dizziness and general discomfort from such a small circumference. If you stand up straight, your head moves significantly slower than your feet. There are more effects that humans don’t do well with.
In addition keep in mind that this implies significant mechanical complexity the moment you don’t rotate the whole craft, but only a section or ring. If you do rotate all of it, simple tasks like taking a photo become… cumbersome.
Also like others have said, it’s not a permanent residence for anyone, and the main goal of the ISS is the study of low- or micro-gravity.
Have you ever been in one of these?
You can easily sit on the wall while it’s spinning, and it actually feels pretty normal. But, if you try and stand up and walk around…you’re going to have a very bad day.
For some reason your link didn’t work for me - in case it helps anyone else, here’s the link again:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_Up_(ride)?wprov=sfla1
Thank you.
actually i have been, and i have attributed it to the device not providing consistent centrifugal forces. instead, gravity interferes and makes it inconsistent. which would not happen on a spaceship.