Artificial gravity

Gemini 11 tethered in 1966 the GATV-5006 Agena target vehicle performing various tests including a first artificial gravity test in a microgravity environment.
Proposed Nautilus-X International space station centrifuge demo concept, 2011

Artificial gravity is the creation of an inertial force that mimics the effects of a gravitational force, usually by rotation.[1] Artificial gravity, or rotational gravity, is thus the appearance of a centrifugal force in a rotating frame of reference (the transmission of centripetal acceleration via normal force in the non-rotating frame of reference), as opposed to the force experienced in linear acceleration, which by the equivalence principle is indistinguishable from gravity. In a more general sense, "artificial gravity" may also refer to the effect of linear acceleration, e.g. by means of a rocket engine.[1]

Rotational simulated gravity has been used in simulations to help astronauts train for extreme conditions.[2] Rotational simulated gravity has been proposed as a solution in human spaceflight to the adverse health effects caused by prolonged weightlessness.[3] However, there are no current practical outer space applications of artificial gravity for humans due to concerns about the size and cost of a spacecraft necessary to produce a useful centripetal force comparable to the gravitational field strength on Earth (g).[4] Scientists are concerned about the effect of such a system on the inner ear of the occupants. The concern is that using centripetal force to create artificial gravity will cause disturbances in the inner ear leading to nausea and disorientation. The adverse effects may prove intolerable for the occupants.[5]

  1. ^ a b Young, Laurence; Yajima, Kazuyoshi; Paloski, William, eds. (September 2009). Artificial Gravity Research to enable Human Space Exploration (PDF). International Academy of Astronautics. ISBN 978-2-917761-04-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 13, 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  2. ^ Strauss, Samuel (July 2008). "Space medicine at the NASA-JSC, neutral buoyancy laboratory". Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine. 79 (7): 732–733. ISSN 0095-6562. LCCN 75641492. OCLC 165744230. PMID 18619137.
  3. ^ Clément, Gilles; Charles, John B.; Norsk, Peter; Paloski, William H. (February 15, 2015). Human Research Program Human Health Countermeasures Element: Evidence Report - Artificial Gravity (Technical report). NASA. hdl:2060/20150009486. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 12, 2024.
  4. ^ Feltman, Rachel (May 3, 2013). "Why Don't We Have Artificial Gravity?". Popular Mechanics. ISSN 0032-4558. OCLC 671272936. Archived from the original on January 1, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  5. ^ Clément, Gilles R.; Bukley, Angelia P.; Paloski, William H. (June 17, 2015). "Artificial gravity as a countermeasure for mitigating physiological deconditioning during long-duration space missions". Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. 9: 92. doi:10.3389/fnsys.2015.00092. ISSN 1662-5137. PMC 4470275. PMID 26136665.