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bulldogtrekker

Yes Artificial Gravity Could Happen, But It Would Be Very Expensive
Popular Mechanics Imgur

Could we create artificial gravity in a space station? The short answer is "yes," the slightly longer answer is "yes, but it'd be more expensive and require more materials than it is realistically possible to consume." Brian McManus explains it all in his latest Real Engineering video.

Click to watch video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=im-JM0f_J7s

The reason space stations are constantly spinning in films and TV shows is that spin is required for any remotely realistic kind of artificial gravity. If you're on Earth, you've got two forces pulling on you: your normal force, which we call "weight," and gravity. Without gravity, you need to make a person accelerate to keep their normal force where it naturally is on Earth. When you're dealing with a stationary space station, like the ones seen in Elysium or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, that would come in the form of acceleration perpendicular to the velocity of the person. In other words, spinning.

Where the rubber meets the road, though, is price and materials. A station capable of attaining the acceleration needed for human use would have to be huge. Using Elysium as his model, McManus goes through the trillions of dollar we'd need to hire SpaceX to send all the materials into space-unless we built an elevator. But even then, that's assuming that there's even enough accessable metal in the world to build it. It may be a good start to not defy the laws of physics, but it's still a tough sell with so many practical issues standing in the way.

Source: Real Engineering

https://www.yahoo.com/news/yes-artificial-gravity-could-happen-155312059.html

Brent Gair · Mission Specialist Joined: 21 Nov 2014 Posts: 466

I was forced to stop watching the video at 3:07.

That was the point when the narrator used the non-word "ekscape".

Anybody over the age of six who can't properly pronounce the word "escape" is an idiot. I'm not watching an engineering lecture hosted by somebody who is illiterate.

Robert (Butch) Day · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 10:15 pm Post subject:

Bud Brewster · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 11:26 pm Post subject:

Pye-Rate · Starship Navigator Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 598

This guy is not an engineer, he is a moronic flatworm.

Today's aircraft aluminum is six to eight times stronger than what was available in the 50's and now use titanium fasteners that were not available then.
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The road to tomorrow runs through yesterday.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 11:58 pm Post subject:

bulldogtrekker · Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 9:55 am Post subject:

Bud Brewster · Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 11:55 am Post subject:

________________________________

What mistake? The picture is perfect for the subject matter.

The article is about the fact that giant spinning space stations have not been built because they proved to be insanely expensive. The picture just illustrates the dream from our childhood which hasn't come true.

I can't figure out how Butch and Pye-rate got the mistaken idea that the article had anything to do with construction methods and materials, either back in the 1950s or today.

I'm sure Brent understood this, even though he stopped watching the very interesting video halfway through because he mis-heard one little word. (No offense, Brent. Very Happy

)

If I didn't know better, I'd think Butch and Pye-rate didn't read your post or watch the video, since they both seemed to think it was about construction materials in the 1950s, apparently based on the picture you posted — which was just there as a reference to those great space stations we dreamed of as kids.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

orzel-w · Galactic Ambassador Joined: 19 Sep 2014 Posts: 1865

There. How's that?
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...or not...

WayneO
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Robert (Butch) Day · Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 9:00 pm Post subject:

It was not that expensive when proposed. Only runaway inflation and extremely bad economic decisions made it so.
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Common Sense ISN'T Common

orzel-w · Galactic Ambassador Joined: 19 Sep 2014 Posts: 1865

Plus, we had no data on launching massive amounts of materiel into orbit. All the experience we had at the time was development costs for a little fence post-sized satellite and a basketball, which were expected to be amortized over the course of a robust space program. Projected costs were fantasized to diminish drastically as new and wonderful systems were developed.
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...or not...

WayneO
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Pye-Rate · Starship Navigator Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 598

I watched the video, the guy is still a moron. He bean counts, bean counters build things like the "Johnstown Flood", Galloping Girdie, etc.

Most of the launches will be unmanned allowing higher payloads and reduced costs and new designs and materials will further reduce costs.

Butch and my point is that if you let the engineers do their job they will find a way to do it.
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The road to tomorrow runs through yesterday.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 3:24 pm Post subject:

scotpens · Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 11:33 pm Post subject:

Bud Brewster · Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2016 12:45 am Post subject: