Re: Space Station Question


"Steen" <virker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:440f1f2d$0$60787$157c6196@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Von Fourche wrote:

My question: are those classic looking space stations possible?
Would it be possible with today's technology to build one of these
stations that actually spins around creating gravity? Would spinning
a big pin wheel shaped space station work?

What's are the negatives to such a station besides cost?

1. A rotating space station is more complicated and thus more expensive
than
a non-rotating.

2. One of the primary reasons for having a space station is microgravity
research.

Both true.

3. To create any useful artificial gravity, the space station should
either
be prohibitively large or employ prohibitively fast rotation periods. If
the
station is 100 meters across, it should rotate once in 14 seconds to
create
1 g, which would probably cause severe nausea. A station 1 kilometer
across
should have a period of 45 seconds to create 1 g.

Or you stick your station on one end of a very long cable and some big
weight (e.g. spent stage, empty tankage, or something) at the other end of
the cable and you spin the combination. This would seem to be a possibility
for something like a manned Mars mission, where you really don't want your
astronauts spending the entire trip to Mars in zero gravity. It would be
better if they were still used to 1G upon Mars arrival, so that their
muscles were still in peak condition.

Jeff
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