Planned trip to Mars

[PCH]

Hey guys,

I've just been reading an article about the disastrous effects a year on ISS has had on astronaut Scott Kelly's body.

It makes me wonder how those who'll travel to Mars when the time comes, will cope.

I'm thinking that what needs to be investigated as a matter of priority is provision of a synthetic gravity environment such as we see on the likes of Star Trek etc, - the same as we have on a standard airplane flight.

I'm not the full quid on these matters. Is that theoretically even possible in space travel?

Any thoughts folks?

[el_draco]

Send Trump first with Abbott and Turncoat to hold his hands during the last stages.... :question::rolleyes:

[leon]

The most ridiculous plan ever, who would want to go to Mars, :shrug:and die.:sadeyes:
Come on guys, 6 Months to get there an to what, :shrug:get real :)

It is about time to get this Space Race into more important stuff and look after the humans on earth, seriously.

If you have $ Billions to spend, spend it on the people sleeping on the street each night.

Yep my Daughter was one of them and to this day after living under bridges and living rough for many years she has actually survived, but very damaged :sadeyes: :sadeyes:

GET REAL :mad2:

Leon :thumbsup:

[AEAJR]

I am very excited to hear that the USA is planning to go back to the Moon and to Mars.

The exploration of space will drive the nations of the world to work together and to advance the state of human knowledge. New materials will be invented and new engineering will be invented to overcome the challenges.

As to artificial gravity, I don't think they are likely to come up with that any time soon. What i have read about is simulated gravity where they spin the living portion of the ship.

If they spin the ship I would imagine they would need to do something to attach the people to the perimeter in terms of mildly magnetic boots or similar. Otherwise the ship might spin but the people would just float in zero gravity above the deck.

[PCH]

I’m not 100% convinced your anger should be directed at us Leon. Whether you agree with this particular avenue of exploration or not, im pretty sure the program wasn’t instigated by anyone here on this forum, lol, so we don’t deserve your wrath. Just saying :)

[OzEclipse]

Ed is correct. Simulated gravity is relatively simple and achieved by spinning the ship as he suggests. There is no current technology and going out on a small limb here I'd suggest nor is there likely to be any future technology to generate artificial gravity. The only way to generate gravity is with mass, exactly what you don't want in a spacecraft. You have to have enough fuel accelerate it then decelerate it at your destination and to generate 1g, you need a lot of mass. Around about the mass of the Earth.

To generate simulated gravity the ship needs to rotate, the spin speed required is related to the radius. The passengers in contact with the inside of the spinning portion of the ship would experience a force exerted on their feet by the centripetal acceleration that would feel like gravity. Once in motion, they would not need magnetic boots. However this force would be zero for an astronaut positioned on the rotational axis of the ship. To generate 9.8m/s/s, the same gravity as Earth, a 40 m diameter ship would need to spin at about 6.7 RPM. This in turn may cause motion sickness to the passengers. However it becomes much more practical as the diameter increases. A 400m diameter ship if it were possible to build one that big, only needs to rotate at 2 rpm. See the attached table for examples of other diameters.


Joe

[leon]

No I am not angry at anyone here actually, I am not angry at all really, I just think it is such a waste of funds which could be used for the needy on our own Planet.
That is all I meant, however if I have offended anyone I do apoligise.

Leon

[AEAJR]

Explain to me how the passengers would remain at the speed of the rotating ship without some kind of attaching force?

They would have to undergo continuous acceleration to sense the gravity so there would have to be a continuous force on them. I submit that that force would have to come from the hull of the rotating ship. And centripidal force does not direct you outward from the core the way gravity does, it provides a tangential acceloration so there is nothing inherently attaching you to the moving hull.

The air in the ship, not attached to the hull, would not move at the same speed as the rotating hull. This would create a resistance on the occupants slowing them from the speed of the rotating hull.

For that rotating ship to exert a force on them they would have to be in contact with it either physically or by some sort of attaching force. Thus I suggested magnetic shoes/boots. They wouldn't have to be very strong, just enough to hold contact so as to overcome the resistance imparted by the air and to compensate for the tangential nature of the force of the hull.

[Wilso]

Reminds me of the old GRAVITRON at the Royal show.
Buckle in until it gets up to speed, then unbuckle and move around on the walls. All good fun!
A few people got sick on that one as well 😬

[OzEclipse]

Gidday Ed,

I agree they need to be standing on the spinning hull to experience the acceleration. The air will spin with the hull and won't exert much force.

Those spinning rides at the sideshow that pin people to the walls don't need magnetic boots. Neither does a stunt motorbike rider doing loop the loops or other similar stunts.

If the occupants are in contact with the hull when it starts rotating, they'll keep moving. Their bodies want to travel in a tangential vector but the curved circular hull of the ship stops you doing that by continually changing your direction. That's the acceleration you feel pushing against your feet coming from that continual change in direction when you want to travel at a tangent. And yes, if the astronauts can kick off hard enough to cancel the hull rotation, they can float weightless in the middle of the ship.

Even in the case of a small ship of say 10m diameter, the hull circumferential velocity for 1g is 25km/hr. At 40m diameter the hull speed is 50km/hr. You are not going to negate that with a little jump nor is the wind going to blow you off the floor just as it doesn't in a high speed train where your feet are experiencing 1g of acceleration.

Kind regards

Joe