When we are thinking of space travel, the first thing that comes to mind is weightlessness. Despite how cool it looks, it constitutes one of the big challenges for spaceflight. Not only is it harmful for human health, but it also complicates a lot of basic actions like eating or using the toilet.
A viable solution to this has been known for a long time: rotate a spacecraft or its part to create centrifugal force that emulates gravity. So far this has only been tested with smaller centrifuges that couldn't fit a whole human.
The question will resolve positively as soon as a human-scale centrifuge is tested in space for the first time. The following conditions have to be fulfilled:
The radius of rotation has to be at least 3 meters. (Starship rotating around its axis would qualify.)
The centrifugal force at the outer rim should be at least 0.05 g. This seems about the minimum gravity useful for everyday tasks. (Gemini 11 has generated artificial gravity at 0.00015 g)
A human astronaut should be present within the structure, experiencing the artificial gravity.
The human has to do something besides just lying or sitting. They should e.g. try to walk, jump, stand, crawl etc.
I do not bet on my own questions.
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1.00@ProjectVictory There is a strong incentive if people are to e.g. visit Mars, because when they arrive there, they shouldn't be helpless.
@OlegEterevsky I completely agree, but very little serious plans to go beyond the moon with a crewed mission. What I meant is at the moment - if funded, this could have easily been tested a decade ago, but nobody is interested enough.
@ProjectVictory Yes, absolutely. On the one hand we don't even have a good idea how much gravity we actually need. Is 0.1 g enough, or do we need 0.5 g? On the other, tests like that would've required prolonged rotation of a space station, and it would interfere with solar panels, cooling and in general would be quite expensive.
I'm hoping that Starship with its 9 m diameter will make it possible to test at moderate artificial gravity relatively easily.