Why Don't We Have Artificial Gravity In Space? - Alternative View

Why Don't We Have Artificial Gravity In Space? - Alternative View
Why Don't We Have Artificial Gravity In Space? - Alternative View

Video: Why Don't We Have Artificial Gravity In Space? - Alternative View

Video: Why Don't We Have Artificial Gravity In Space? - Alternative View
Video: Is Artificial Gravity Really Achievable? | Answers With Joe 2024, March
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Place a person in space, away from the gravitational bonds of the earth's surface, and he will feel weightlessness. Although all the masses of the universe will still act gravitationally on him, they will also attract any spacecraft that the person is in, so he will float. And yet, on TV, we were shown that the crew of a certain spacecraft quite successfully walks on the floor with their feet under any conditions. To do this, artificial gravity is used, created by installations on board a fantastic ship. How close is this to real science?

Captain Gabriel Lorca on the Discovery bridge during a simulated battle with the Klingons. The entire crew is attracted by artificial gravity, and this is, as it were, a canon
Captain Gabriel Lorca on the Discovery bridge during a simulated battle with the Klingons. The entire crew is attracted by artificial gravity, and this is, as it were, a canon

Captain Gabriel Lorca on the Discovery bridge during a simulated battle with the Klingons. The entire crew is attracted by artificial gravity, and this is, as it were, a canon

Regarding gravity, Einstein's big discovery was the principle of equivalence: with uniform acceleration, the frame of reference is indistinguishable from the gravitational field. If you were on a rocket and could not see the universe through a window, you would have no idea what is happening: are you being pulled down by the force of gravity, or is the acceleration of the rocket in a certain direction? This was the idea that led to general relativity. 100 years later, this is the most accurate description of gravity and acceleration that we know.

The identical behavior of a ball hitting the floor in a rocket in flight (left) and on Earth (right) demonstrates Einstein's principle of equivalence
The identical behavior of a ball hitting the floor in a rocket in flight (left) and on Earth (right) demonstrates Einstein's principle of equivalence

The identical behavior of a ball hitting the floor in a rocket in flight (left) and on Earth (right) demonstrates Einstein's principle of equivalence

There is another trick, says Ethan Siegel, that we can use if we want: we can make the spaceship spin. Instead of linear acceleration (like the thrust of a rocket), centripetal acceleration can be made to work, so that the person on board can feel the outer hull of the spacecraft pushing it toward the center. This was the trick used in 2001 A Space Odyssey, and if your spacecraft were big enough, artificial gravity would be indistinguishable from real gravity.

Only one but. These three types of acceleration - gravitational, linear and rotational - are the only ones that we can use to simulate the effects of gravity. And this is a huge problem for the spacecraft.

The concept of the 1969 station, which was to be assembled in orbit from the spent phases of the Apollo program. The station had to rotate on its central axis to create artificial gravity
The concept of the 1969 station, which was to be assembled in orbit from the spent phases of the Apollo program. The station had to rotate on its central axis to create artificial gravity

The concept of the 1969 station, which was to be assembled in orbit from the spent phases of the Apollo program. The station had to rotate on its central axis to create artificial gravity

Why? Because if you want to travel to another star system, you will need to speed up your ship to get there, and then slow it down upon arrival. If you cannot insulate yourself from these accelerations, disaster awaits you. For example, to accelerate to full impulse in Star Trek, up to a few percent of light speed, one would have to experience an acceleration of 4000 g. This is 100 times the acceleration that begins to obstruct blood flow in the body.

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The launch of Space Shuttle Columbia in 1992 showed acceleration over a long period. The acceleration of the spacecraft will be many times higher, and the human body will not be able to cope with it
The launch of Space Shuttle Columbia in 1992 showed acceleration over a long period. The acceleration of the spacecraft will be many times higher, and the human body will not be able to cope with it

The launch of Space Shuttle Columbia in 1992 showed acceleration over a long period. The acceleration of the spacecraft will be many times higher, and the human body will not be able to cope with it.

If you don't want to be weightless on a long journey - to avoid exposing yourself to horrendous biological wear and tear, such as loss of muscle and bone mass - there must be constant force on the body. For any other force, this is quite easy to do. In electromagnetism, for example, one could place the crew in a conductive cockpit and a lot of external electric fields would simply disappear. It would be possible to arrange two parallel plates inside and get a constant electric field, pushing the charges in a certain direction.

If gravity worked the same way.

Such a concept as a gravitational conductor simply does not exist, as well as the ability to shield oneself from gravitational force. It is impossible to create a uniform gravitational field in a region of space, for example, between two plates. Why? Because unlike the electrical force generated by positive and negative charges, there is only one type of gravitational charge, and that is mass-energy. Gravitational force always attracts, and there is nowhere to hide from it. You can only use three types of acceleration - gravitational, linear and rotational.

The overwhelming majority of quarks and leptons in the Universe consists of matter, but each of them also has antiparticles from antimatter, the gravitational masses of which are not determined
The overwhelming majority of quarks and leptons in the Universe consists of matter, but each of them also has antiparticles from antimatter, the gravitational masses of which are not determined

The overwhelming majority of quarks and leptons in the Universe consists of matter, but each of them also has antiparticles from antimatter, the gravitational masses of which are not determined

The only way that artificial gravity could be created that would protect you from the effects of your ship's acceleration and provide you with constant downward thrust without acceleration would be available if you discover particles of negative gravitational mass. All particles and antiparticles that we have found so far have a positive mass, but these masses are inertial, that is, they can be judged only when a particle is created or accelerated. Inertial mass and gravitational mass are the same for all particles that we know, but we have never tested our idea on antimatter or antiparticles.

Experiments are currently being carried out on this particular part. The ALPHA experiment at CERN has created antihydrogen: a stable form of neutral antimatter, and is working to isolate it from all other particles. If the experiment is sensitive enough, we can measure how an antiparticle hits a gravitational field. If it falls down, like ordinary matter, then it has a positive gravitational mass and can be used to build a gravitational conductor. If it falls up in the gravitational field, it changes everything. One result, and artificial gravity may suddenly become possible.

The possibility of obtaining artificial gravity beckons us incredibly, but it is based on the existence of negative gravitational mass. Antimatter may be that massive, but we haven't proven it yet
The possibility of obtaining artificial gravity beckons us incredibly, but it is based on the existence of negative gravitational mass. Antimatter may be that massive, but we haven't proven it yet

The possibility of obtaining artificial gravity beckons us incredibly, but it is based on the existence of negative gravitational mass. Antimatter may be that massive, but we haven't proven it yet

If antimatter has a negative gravitational mass, then by creating a field of ordinary matter and a ceiling of antimatter, we could create an artificial gravity field that would always pull you down. By creating a gravitationally conductive shell in the form of the hull of our spacecraft, we would protect the crew from ultra-fast acceleration forces that would otherwise become lethal. And best of all, humans in space would no longer experience the negative physiological effects that plague astronauts today. But until we find a particle with negative gravitational mass, artificial gravity will only be obtained through acceleration.

Ilya Khel