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?

  • Luminous5481 "Lawless Heathen" [they/them]@anarchist.nexusBanned from community
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    17 days ago

    https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20070001008/downloads/20070001008.pdf

    At body motions or centrifuge rotation rates that are small in magnitude, the effects of the Coriolis force are negligible, as on Earth. However, in a centrifuge rotating at several rpm, there can be disconcerting effects. Simple movements become complex and eye-head movements can be altered: turning the head can make stationary objects appear to rotate and continue to move once the head has stopped. This is because Coriolis forces also create cross-coupled angular accelerations in the semicircular canals of the inner ear (see Figure 4-01) when the head is turned out of the plane of rotation. Consequently, motion sickness can result even at low rotation rates (<3 rpm), although people can eventually adapt to higher rates after incremented, prolonged exposure (see Chapter 3, Section 3.1).

    • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.deOP
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      17 days ago

      although people can eventually adapt to higher rates after incremented, prolonged exposure

      🤨️ we’re talking 6 months travel time here, what do they mean by “prolonged exposure”