Artificial gravity is a concept that is ubiquitous in our science fiction yet elusive in our space program. Why is this? And how could we develop artificial gravity soon? In a Cool Worlds special, this video essay goes in depth on the topic discussing why centrifuges are the most plausible solution and early ideas on the topic. Join us a journey from Einstein's equivalence principle, to O'Neill Cylinders and Stanford Tori; from Coriolis forces to near-term experiments. Grab a cup of a tea and enjoy.
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Chapters:
0:08 Introduction
5:43 The O’Neill Cylinder
8:10 The Stanford Torus
10:16 Down-Sizing
13:31 Coriolis
16:52 Vertical Coriolis
19:32 Tipping Coriolis
21:34 Canal Sickness
27:01 Stability
29:28 Near-Tear Experiments
Academic articles used:
► Nesti et al. (2014), "Human sensitivity to vertical motion", Exp Brain Res., 232, 303: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
► Harris et al. (2014), "How Much Gravity Is Needed to Establish the Perceptual Upright?", PLoS One, 9, e106207: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... (0.15g)
► Cohen et al. (2000), "Effects of Prolonged Centrifugation on Orthostasis", Aerospace Medical Association 72nd Annual Scientific Meeting 2001: ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20...
► Graybiel et al. (1960), "Observations on Human Subjects Living in a 'Slow Rotation Room' for Periods of Two Days", Arch Neurol., 3, 55: jamanetwork.com/journals/jama...
► Theodore Hall (1993), "The Architecture of Artificial Gravity: Archetypes and Transformations of Terrestrial Design", PhD Thesis, University of Michigan: www.artificial-gravity.com/SSI...
► Theodore Hall (2002), "Architectural Considerations for a Minimum Mass, Minimum Energy, Artificial Gravity Environment", SAE Technical paper Series, www.artificial-gravity.com/SAE...
► Online lecture by Theodore Hall in 2015 at SEEDS: • SEDS@UM - Artificial G...
► Holderman & Henderson (2011): www.scribd.com/document/51592...
► Kirk Sorensen (2005), "A Tether-Based Variable-Gravity Research Facility Concept": www.artificial-gravity.com/JAN...
Video materials used:
► Numerous NASA videos, in particular of ISS, the Dawn Mission, as well Stanford Torus video: • Space Colonization St...
► Nautilus X videos from f r a g o m a t i k: • Nautilus-X - A Real Sp... and • More Nautilus-X
► High G blackout videos from VIDSTORM: • Video
► Inner ear video from Fauquier ENT: • How the Inner Ear Bala...
► World Record 83 G Deceleration Peak on Rocket Sled 1958-05-16 (1967) USAF: • Video
► SpaceX Falcon Heavy test flight: • Falcon Heavy Test Flight
► "ORBIT - A Journey Around Earth in Real Time" by Seán Doran: • Video
► MIT Coriolis demonstration: • Coriolis Effect
► MPI CyberMotion Simulator: • The MPI CyberMotion Si...
► Not a video but thanks to Don Davis for his amazing images used
► Rotating simulators by Tom Lechner and William Hoza: www.tomlechner.com/outerspace/ and william.hoza.us/centrifuge/#4&1
Filmclips, in order of appearance;
► Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1967, Paramount)
► Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005, Paramount)
► Interstellar (2014, Warner Bros)
► 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Warner Bros)
► The Martian (2015, 20th Century Fox)
► Avatar (2009, 20th Century Fox)
► Elysium (2013, Sony Pictures)
Music is by Chris Zabriskie (chriszabriskie.com/) and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/..., in order of appearance;
► Cylinder Five (chriszabriskie.com/cylinders/)
► Cylinder Nine (chriszabriskie.com/cylinders/)
► Cylinder Three (chriszabriskie.com/cylinders/)
► We Were Never Meant to Live Here (chriszabriskie.com/neptuneflux/)
► That Hopeful Future Is All I've Ever Known (chriszabriskie.com/neptuneflux/)
► The Sun is Scheduled to Come Out Tomorrow ( / the-sun-is-scheduled-t... )
► Cylinder Seven (chriszabriskie.com/cylinders/)
► Cylinder Four (chriszabriskie.com/cylinders/)
► Cylinder Eight (chriszabriskie.com/cylinders/)
And also...
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: www.astro.columbia.edu
► Cool Worlds Lab website: coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
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THANKS FOR WATCHING!!
Hands down the best presentation I've ever seen on the subject. Amazing!
JMG omg
Agreed - but I think it discounts what the technology will be capable of say 50 years from now, or 100 years. Just think how different the world is right now just between the years of 1919 and 2019. You see my central thesis here.
@@kd1s There will indeed be advances, but the basic physics will remain unchanged.
a lot of people do not know how gravity works or what gravity is, and i did not even understand 75% of what you said. very good video, why don't we test this in space? we as humans will NEVER go to a planet en-tell we find a way to deal with artificial gravity or gavity.
@@wraithwolfnight813 Yes indeed I'm fully aware that many people have no idea about physics, gravity.
"Occupants would be thrown about the habitat, in a clearly unacceptable manner" That sense of humor... LOL
make them all wear those padded sumo wrestler suits!.
Stage dived and missed the crowd.
Velcro suits.... need I say more?
I think it was plainly direct. No humor.
Not at all understated.
I’m a novelist and I’m new to writing science fiction. Read a lot when I was young. Writing it seemed so daunting. These videos are fantastic and incredibly useful for the world building I’m aiming to do. Thanks for posting them.
Born too late to explore earth. Born too early to explore the galaxy. Born just in time to explore minecraft
Ikr
The ocean floor is still pretty much unexplored.
The preparation work for this video is equivalent to a thesis. Very impressive.
Not quite...
I don't think that this presentation could be more comprehensive! The amount of work you've put in is incredible. Well Done and Thankyou!
What about centrifugal propulsion systems from the 1970's that outperform their pathetic single accelerator ion drive? No mention of launching rockets from weather balloons (or reusable high altitude dirigibles) to save our atmosphere from wasting rocket fuel fighting wind resistance? The stupidity of human's 20th century public space technology is laughable.
@@hintzofcolorconcepts You probably sound clever to "You"🙄
@@KB-fo1sr 👏👏👏
knowing that people think about these things and then explain them this well makes me feel like we have some kind of future.
Law of KZhead. No matter how well explained and produced a video is, it won't keep the idiots away.
I'm a psychology scholar, and you make astrophysics sound so simple that even I can understand. That's truly remarkable. I've learned so much from your channel. Thank you.
Psychology or anything in biology makes space engineering look tame and simple by comparison. You work on the most complicated object known to exist. I absolutely love space tech but what you guys do is also pretty damn boss by comparison😉.
I studied political science and even I can understand. Truly remarkable.
It’s truly remarkable they conned the world into thinking the universe spins in all directions at millioms of miles an hour, yet the Earth is so stable, temples stand for 1000’s of years and the zodiacal symbols displayed on them hasn’t moved an inch!
@AllINeedis1Mike not really. Here in our country psychology is for stupid people. Very easy course.
@@allineedis1mike81 No, it doesn't.
I definitely enjoy this style of videos 👍 The main reason is, that you took equations and actually broke them down showing how the terms would affect the outcome. I think this is a much better way to convey information, instead of constantly using metaphors (like other channels do), in my opinion you managed to hit the sweet spot with this video. I was able to follow and was engaged the whole time. Congrats to the writer, director, animation and editor of this one.
Thank you for not shying away from technical language. Complicated topics require complicated explanations.
truth is simple
They also avoided jargon. No, "Roger on your plan to fix Alpha Echo three Five. This is Mission Control, trannnnnnnnnnsmission concluded."
Truth is simple, but specification on the basis of what MAKES it truth will always be complicated
Wow. This is like Isaac Arthur. A documentary on every aspect of artificial gravity we know. Great job, Cool Worlds!
It's both like and liked by Isaac Arthur.
except no speech impediment lol
Carlos Leon you don't have to be mean
I was so thinking that, and without the speech impediment.
@@carlosandleon He says he has a speech impediment, but I can barely tell. He sounds perfectly understandable to me.
This would take my entire life to even collate such detail. Genius
This man is the best, he is a genius totally one of the best narrators out there...🙏😇 blessings to all!!
The counterweight design looks to me the best solution for long trips. On a trip to Mars it can be set to the gravity of the Mars, so the crew would be accomodated at the arival. But here is an other solution: instead of a counterrotating balast, can be used 2 ships attached with a cable, wich has some advantages: more space for the crew and backup in case of technical failures.
This may not be feasble but it would be super cool if once arrived at the destination they spin up even faster and fling the ships off in the desired direction. Maybe just to show off😁
PPP
SpaceX has such an idea as this. It consists of two Starships attached via a high-tensile tether system, while a third one, dedicated solely to flight control, provides thrust at the middle of the tether.
The two ship concept has been around fir years.
Maybe for 3 years?
Your presentation voice takes a bit of getting used to, but it is VERY clear. At no time ever in this video did I have to sit and wonder just what had been said. . As someone who very often needs to enable captions to have any clue what is being said on KZhead, I appreciate this very much! P.S. 11/10 on content!
@@deusexaethera Because it is not merely a foreign accent? It is a clear and deliberate enunciation of the sounds in the speech, done for emphasis on clarity not beauty. Exactly what one wants for a presentation. It is a big deal because the presenter does it deliberately, and for our benefit.
@@deusexaethera Go ask your therapist. He will know. You have now BOTH stated that his voice is "just a foreign accent, what's the big deal?" AND agreed with my statement that it is being done deliberately as part of the presentation. These two statements are conflicting. It is *very* unhealthy to disagree with yourself!
I sometimes imagine a huge cylindrical service module, containing life support, some sort of propulsion with attitude retros, and a much shorter, but same diameter, O'Neill cylinder at one end for the crew. Great video!
It always seemed like it would be simpler to me to start out with your counter weight. Maybe capture a NEO or something like that. Have your habitation and manufacturing pods ready in pairs to connect to the counter weight (hub really) with cables or something similar. Maybe even traversable tubes. Then just keep adding pairs getting closer and closer to a circle. Maybe the pods could even manufacture the spaces between them to finish the big wheel. Honestly I think making powerful nuclear reactors for space is gonna be a must to do any of the big stuff we all dream about. It takes a lot of energy to process rock and metal into something useful. And for moving it all around its absolutely required. All the reaction mass we could ever need is just sitting out there in frozen chunks. We just need to be able to get it hot and blow it out the back. Its such a shame that everything nuclear has such a huge public perception problem. Thats gonna be a major problem I think. People just love the drama so much they ignore the facts on this particular tech. Maybe we should come up with a new name for nuclear tech? That may be all it takes. The fuel comes from the Earth so lets call it organic rock power or something. People will loose interest and find something else to complain about.🤣
Truth based on reality is often our greatest hurdle. This was beautiful, thank you Cool Worlds.
Anti-Science is on the Rise. Please do something against this by asking me and others for some good Channel-Recommendations of Education and/or Science and also give me some.
For long duration missions, would it be acceptable to have a special smaller rotating section of the spaceship used solely for sleep? Wouldn't this allow the astronauts' bodies to regenerate muscle and bone loss? During the day, they would live primarily in zero g carrying out whatever activities needed. Possibly have these tiny apartments equipped with bathrooms for...you know gravity assist so-to-speak.
WestOfEarth yes there are certainly benefits to a zero g environment so a sleep system could work great. Research on the hours needed in the centrifuge to adequately recover would be needed (and very interesting)
If the work out space, sleep and bathrooms were in a centrifuge that would be good, along with a continuous hallway for walking and jogging..
Another issue is how to create a seal between the moving section and the "stationary" section such that there would be no friction and no atmosphere loss? Any friction at all might cause the whole craft to start rotating. Interesting problems to solve here!
@@dougsinthailand7176 Yea that's why i feel the best approach is to rotate a whole cylinder large enough to have a zero g module in the center.
Check out the Gateway Foundation's new video, @@Bobsry16
I wish I could be around in the future when solutions to these problems are created and people in the future look back at our syfy movies and either laugh at how far off we were or are amazed at how close we were to the real thing
According to Steven hawking Humans are loosing their rein on this planet. We are destroying our ability to be the dominant species. Not sure anyone will be around long enough to experience adaptive living on teraformed planets or systems.
War of the Worlds. 1897. Tripods walking around instead of wheels. VERY futuristic. Kind of like a gigantic steam powered metal tarantula. Wright Flyer 1903. Again, no wheels! Amazing how close Mr. Wells came to what actually happened 7 years later.
It's almost more fun theorizing this stuff. Once they're actually built they'll be awesome, but sometimes the wonder is whats more exciting!
@@tylermorris9196 but once you build them, more concepts and wondrous things may arise as a result! A feedback loop! Once we build these, we might wonder about Dyson spheres, then to maybe shkadov thrusters, then to moving and manipulating solar systems etc.
What a gem of a presentation. Fascinating history lesson, complex concepts presented in easy to understand analogies, with a little bit of humour. The T-handle experiment blew my mind: definitely wouldn't want to be on that ride! 10/10 would replay again.
Ive watched this when it was released and watched now every second again. You are a treat dr. Kipping. I am absolutly addicted to your videos.
Great Episode!
Isaac Arthur thanks Isaac!
Ohhhh.. SFIA is here...
holy moly!!!
I'm impressed. I don't know if you will read this, but I've been thinking about the ability for technology to give people meaning and novelty when they are traveling to other worlds. The psychological effects of space travel are just as significant as the physical ones, and in many ways intertwined. Great to see a wonderful video like this and possibly communicate with one of my favorite KZheadrs. It's a good day!
@@jameswhitman3934 Thanks!
Thank you for this amazing video! I've been looking for a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of the intricacies of centrifuges for a long long time. This is no exception.
Thanks for this subject. I have been watching your channel for about a year and going through your back catalogue. The idea of the tidal forces and gravity gradient and other matters is timely, as I have been writing a space based detective novel based on board both a Stanford Torus and a O'Neill Cylinder. I had not considered these issues until now. About half way through the process, the novel is complete, just doing a read through and some editing and revisions. Wish me luck.
Great video! Especially appreciated how you covered all the constraints of the rpm vs radius diagram.
As an engineer who applies theses principles this is an exceptional presentation!
Engineer for whom and doing what? Supply a link to your thesis paper, while you're at it, too. :D
So I’m not sure you are interested or just taking the piss! Actually I am a Fire Engineer and one of the areas I apply theses principles is in the application of fire dynamics to the design of buildings. This involves complex computational fluid dynamic analysis which resolves fire-driven fluid flow (you may know this as smoke). The software solves numerically a form of Navier-Stokes equations appropriate for low-speed, thermally-driven flow, with an emphasis on heat transport properties from fires and is based on conservation laws for physical quantities of mass, momentum, energy and species concentration (you may know this as different gas concentration such as CO). Clearly all this calculation considers the contribution of gravity. My thesis (many years ago now) was based on a comparative study of empirically derived equations and computational fluid dynamic analysis which showed very close correlation to experiments undertaken. Thus allowing such techniques to be used to predict the fire performance of buildings with a high degree of confidence. Hope this helps
@@CJ-gn8qm Well how very good of you to lend your expertise in mythematics. While math never lies, men do. Often employing math to push their bullshit. This is exactly what I read, so graciously supplied by yourself. A glass is 1/2 full/empty. If you agree 1/2 full is the same as 1/2 empty, then : .5F = .5E Solving (2).5F = (2).5E Reducing F = E Interesting how math is so easily manipulated.. unless you believe Full is the same as Empty. Here's another: 1+1=1 1+1=2 1+1=3 1+1=>3 All 4 statements are TRUE when the statements are applied to marriage as the subject. So seeing how your firefighting expertise is so all knowing; What IS gravity and What MAKES it? I will accept any EMPIRICAL proof. Have fun.
Be nice we could adjust gravity under us so we walk weight only 10 pounds. Cars 30 pounds motors get 200 miles to gallon 20 horse motor. Aliens learned how to change gravity. And why did you go back pay month to talk to someone when its free use a CB Radio
@@josephw4830 you’re no mathematician! You’re initial proposition has insufficient information for it to be equal!
What a brilliant presentation for such a hard concept. Awesome and stunning!!
I'm 64 and followed Nasa from the start of man going to space. It was a great time in my life. Your presentations renew that excitement. Thank you.
Brilliant documentary deserves a subscription for sure , more please, thanks. 😎
Thank you for making your video in caption. Without your captions in this video, how can deaf people like me learn of artificial gravity. Again , thank you! About this video, just one word... “Wooooow!”
Ah cool, thanks, I would not have noticed that. That makes the detail and effort put into this even more awesome!
More video like this would be great. Connecting science concepts (or even sci-fi) with public through real science and realistic engineering limits. Educational, entertaining and inspirational too.
This has been one of the most educational and informative video of yours that I have seen so far. I enjoy all your content, but the complexities of artificial gravity had not really occurred to me, so I found myself captivated by your description of each of the factors involved. Thank you.
Dr.Kipping these are one of the best and most interesting videos and presentations I have ever seen,congratulations and please continue to upload more. Thank you very much 👍
This is easily one of the most informative and fascinating videos I have ever seen. Please continue to make videos like this, and for any teachers out there - please consider taking notes from these guys or even showing these videos to your science students. Well done ♥️
Love your videos sir. Your lengthy, detailed and vibrant explanation of the topic makes it easier for people to grasp the problem.
Thank you for the logistics behind gravitational forces. Kudos to all those who have the intuitive genius and dedication to keep reinventing existential options and keeping us up right!
Thank you for making this. What differentiates this video from similar ones on KZhead was the inclusion of historical photographs and technical drawings. Well done.
The math was way over my head but you tied it all together beautifully with your commentary, diagrams and charts. Great job. MORE please.
You are the very best at narrating on the context of these subjects. And simply make the best videos period
20% of mass in just a week?! Damn. That's a lot
Wonder how much one astronaut eat per day.
If my teachers taught me about gravity and inertia with this clarity i would be in harvard this time lol
I found the public education system failed me. The private one worked fairly well though. Tertiary education was actually better for me, but I digress; I agree that a good teacher in the math and science area is essential, In my middle high school years I had a rotten physics teacher and the whole class suffered, students that had a 95% average were in the 60% range. We tried to get rid of him but they would not do anything. We later found out he was dying, but that doesn't change anything, he should have been removed. The moral of my story is that in STEM education you can't baffle them with bullshit, you best stick to fact. Numbers matter.
Doubt it. You spelled Harvard wrong.
Blank Plate LMAOOOO
I'm still in a top University in my country. English is not my first language . I'm still good enough :)
@@abhishekmahajan3782 You are doing just fine; I'm appalling at languages. I might add my partner, who is not British, speaks and spells English way better than me.
I'm only 3 minutes into the video and I'm wondering why I feel such a sense of wonder and curiosity despite gravity being a well-established concept. Then I realized... it's the music. I love it.
Kinda pulls you in. :)
For me the awe is not so much the concept as the acknowledgement of the real-world physical constraints that humans already experience here on Earth. We are in a gravitational "Goldilocks" zone here on Earth, so much so that we take it for granted.
@@SteelWolf13 I glad we haven't fallen off the earth yet. :)
The way that he's so elegantly explains things and simple to understand complex topics. has honestly made me fall in love with physics and astronomy. I always respected The Field. But seeing his videos as honestly created a passion for me.
I like this video. If I were to pick the one thing that annoys me about NASA and people's space ambitions in general it's how we are seemingly ignoring the need for gravity. We have evolved our entire 3. whatever billion years in 1G. I am extremely skeptical we can live long term in much less or more than 1G. I mean our research in micro gravity seems to say it's really, really bad.Yet after doing zero research into the effects of long term low G we are planning crazy stuff like Mars colonies. Somehow the assumption without evidence seems to be zero G is totally bad, but 1/3 G should be fine....Before we blastoff on a SpaceX Starship to colonize Mars it would be nice to know if we can even live there.
THX 1138 Regulations will be written in blood.
If it can be identified through near-space observation of living organisms such as plants, which genes are responsible for better adaptation to near-zero gravity, it will be easier to identify which genes would allow us to be more suitable for those (or similar) conditions. Any creatures modified to excel in those conditions would however become less suitably adapted to life on Earth. For example, you could compare an Earth-based plant, to it's identical space-faring counterpart in order to see what (if any) genetic changes occur, and where those changes happen. Potential negatives could also be identified in this fashion.
I think you can most likely live in Venus's gravity cause it is very close to earth 91% but that will still have some ploblems
I can't believe you actually think this...
Details. I prefer the Soviet style of space exploration. Put someone on top of a massive explosion, and cross your fingers. If they survive, that's great. Do it again. If they don't survive, there's always the next try. The really crazy thing? Soviet astronauts knew that this was the basic approach, and were actually free to back out (for real). Hardly any did. So, finding volunteers is apparently not a problem. It's totally feasible! Someone please figure out if I'm joking. I hope I am, but I'm not sure...
Most thorough analysis I've seen. Well done. Thank you for using science, math, and physics and not just some random thought experiment.
100/100 Awesome presentation. We are grateful to find your channel. Keep up the amazing work!
im glad i got here
Well done! I've never seen a presentation that attempted to place limits on the size/speed of centrifugal structures. The video of the T-handle wrench flipping was also enlightening (stability).
There is one way to break the Equivalency principle. Have two objects side by side and let them fall. Measure the distance between them at the start and end very precisely. If they remain the same distance apart, you're accelerating. If they end up closer together, you're under gravity. Gravity pulls towards a centre point whereas acceleration is parallel. If they end up further apart, you're on a rotating habitat (though coriolis effect would have them drifting sideways too).
nice thinking!
@@HVYMETL would they not attract each other so they move closer anyway? Following your logic, you would reason you are in a gravity field, even when there is none. Maybe this effect can be calculated and eliminated.
As usual a gripping and very interesting presentation. Keep them coming thanks David
Thank you. This topic crosses my mind from time to time and this was an enjoyable explanation of these various concepts. Nicely done. I've just recently discovered your channel and it has become a daily routine to watch at least a couple each day.🙏👍
Great video. I have a difficult time wrapping my head around physics and this presentation allowed me to have a solid layman’s grasp on the subject.
This is the best feasibility analyse on this subject I have ever seen!! Great job!!
Loved the video. I have seen others that essentially say that "centrifugal gravity" will not work because of the Coriolis effect. This demonstrates that it can work within specific parameters. What I really liked is the statement that no tests or experiments have been performed in space to determine how mild or severe the Coriolis effect is on the human vestibular system. The earth based testing is, as mentioned, influenced by the earth's gravitational field thus making it impossible to adequately determine what effect "centrifugal gravity" will actually have. If we are going to attempt to occupy space or colonize other planets we need to find a way to make space travel feasible. It is a total waste of people and resources if we send people to Mars, only to have them arrive so incapacitated from muscle loss that they can't even support their own weight at 1/4 g let alone be able to construct habitats and other facilities they will need to survive. The human race is within reach of being able to colonize the Moon and Mars, but we are still lacking well developed technologies. It seems everyone has their eye on the prize but aren't looking at the details that will actually make it work.
Wow! What a great video, the best I've seen on this topic. Well researched & beautifully explained at just the right tempo. - Brilliant.
Best I have seen on the topic. Well done. Superb in fact.
PLEASE make more videos like this! Emphasizing the science in sci-fi will show us the way forward ...
Lucas Dimoveo sure! What topics would you want me to cover?
@Cool Worlds - one topic that I'd like to see covered is human augmentation for space flight. I know that is outside of your wheelhouse, but it is certainly a topic I'd like to see covered
@@CoolWorldsLab please do a video on whether we should colonise Mars the 1g clouds of Venus first.
@@CoolWorldsLab Power generation in space for use in mining, refining, colonization and such (other than travel; travel has been done to death). Everything from geothermal, solar, nuclear, wind and more exotic stuff, the complexities of doing it in space, on the Moon, on Mars, asteroids, etc. Molten salt nuclear is probably the most flexible, and solar is reliable and cheap anywhere near the Sun, but there are lots of environments, and possibilities. Another is space derived materials. How do you make adhesives, lubricants, building materials, clothing, and toilet paper. Mining and refining techniques... Forging, 3-D printing... Another is food. Food is a biggie. What do we know about growing stuff in space? What would we eat, if were were trying to be efficient, and would never be resupplied. We just have Moon regolith and rocks, or Martian red dust and rocks. We are not a two plant species if those on Mars cannot survive without Earth. Resupply should be a luxury not a necessity. Tissue cultures, iguana, spirulina, mushrooms, shrimp, hydroponics, aeroponics, etc. What kind of modifications are possible for people in space? I think this can be greatly simplified if we engineer ourselves to be cold blooded or at least operate at twenty or thirty degrees Fahrenheit cooler, have our bodies make everything we now consider a vitamin, have bodies synthesize essential amino acids, from nitrogen in the air... We could even remove lots of junk DNA so it is a smaller target for radiation and more quickly repaired, and so cells can divide and heal faster. Probably best to end the relationship with gut bacteria. This solves a lot of sanitation issues and smell issues. It should also make recycling nutrients into fertilizer much easier. Delete the body odor genes. It becomes less urgent to do laundry, if no one stinks. You wash the clothing if it is actually dirty. Body oils can similarly be reduced to keep laundry cleaner. Similar things could be done to any animals that continue to be our food...even if they are only tissue cultures.
@@CoolWorldsLab I'd love to see a deep look into how we can get private companies, governments, and investors together in a common path to moving into space and other planetary objects. I would also love to see and hear a discussion on why it seems no one is actively experimenting or testing some sort of artificial gravity system as NASA always claims that one of the main reasons they are having a problem seeing people on long voyages like to Mars is because the results of prolonged zero gravity on the body is so damaging.
The best video and analysis i have seen on the subject. Helped me validate some of my own calculations on the subject.
Brilliant, very interesting and clearly explained in a way that everyone can begin to understand. If only all Teachers and Tutors could present to their audience like this. Thank you so much.
Unless we can figure out how to rapidly terraform a planet or a moon, I think the O’Neill Cylinder is the most likely form of off-earth habitation for mass amounts of people.
The largest asteroid may contain enough resources needed to build an O'Neill. Any asteroid that poses threat to Earth should be mined.
very balanced and comprehensive presentation! A lot of relevant information in a short time, while never getting the feeling that it is rushed or information is rammed in... The build-up of the comfort zone chart is perfect to make this understandable for a very broad public. Well done!
Cheers Luke!
The tether is the most interesting solution for me, since creating a long cable with a counterweight seems like it would be the cheapest and most efficient method. It probably wouldn't be difficult to built a 1km cable, and suddenly achieving 1g is in the realm of possibility. Avoiding a wobble, however, and finding cables that could be under tension for a long period of time with such heavy weights might pose a problem. Still, that design seems promising.
But it would be very difficult to reach the massive object for something.
It would also be possible to start small and add pods when you need more space. Maybe using a meteor as counter weight that they can mine minerals from.
Congratulations on what I believe is the simplest, clearest, and finest presentation on artificial gravity I've ever experienced. I have always been deeply moved by everything off-world - a real benefit of having grown up watching Cosmos by Carl Sagan. This and your other videos are my go-to sources for giving company to that melancholy feeling I get when gazing into the sky at night feeling that we (somehow, somewhen) need to be out there among those points of light. May I ask, who produces your music and where can I find more of it? Again, congrats and please continue your truly excellent work, you rascally moon hunters!
Thank you for taking the time and trouble to make this excellent video. It's the best treatment of centripetal gravity I've ever seen, and this sort of thing really does need to be "seen" to be understood: not just in diagram form, but animated, in video form. Not only does it illustrate all the physics involved in centripetal gravity, but gives a great history of it, and an honest look at where things stand today (as of March 2019 anyway). The only thing missing was mention of the Gemini mission in which they tethered the Gemini capsule to their spent Agena booster and tried a tethered spin... but the spin rate was so low, the "gravity" thus generated was merely slightly-increased microgravity, and without any computer modeling of the experiment ahead of time, it's no surprise that the tether's unexpected elasticity and tendency to lend an "uncoiling" spin to the capsule (not to mention being so difficult to attach that the astronaut on EVA probably endangered his life to complete the job!), together with the super-cautious super-slow spin rate around the shared center of mass, meant the experiment was nearly useless except as a cautionary tale about materials engineering and affordance. ;-) So, yeah, maybe go ahead and leave that anecdote out. Never mind. This has become my standard reference video for introducing the theory and praxis of centripetal gravity. May we see a Gerald Driggers-esque research station soon! (see his book "Mars Close to Home" for interesting details)
Nicolas Nelson -- Wasn't there an experiment conducted on a Shuttle mission with a tether to a satellite that BROKE during deployment? I thought it was represented as something like an antenna but maybe there was more to it?
Bitterrootbackroads I would have to look it up, but iirc, that was an experiment in electrical conductivity, to see how feasible it might be to “harvest” electrical energy from the EM radiation in higher low-Earth orbit. The electrically-conductive tether sure worked: a little too well. It snapped because it overloaded and arced or sparked somehow, melting or vaporizing one point along the tether. But I do remember that it was NOT a centripetal-gravity experiment. (I wished it was!)
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Excellent video, very well explained. Not as simple as I expected !
Outstanding presentation! Gravitation forces must be part of our habitat consideration for long space flight. Thanks for your efforts!
i know this is 4 years old but wow this is awesome David! thanks again for all the hard work you put into these.
Great documentation, history, studies and mathemetics connected - perfect!
This is inspirational and I think myself and the rest of the space enthusiast community would love to see such a demonstration on the ISS with in our life times. It could prove the technology and in turn open up the door to greater exploration of space for astronauts and inspire our greatest minds to think bigger and push further. Excellent presentation.
My head is now in a real spin.. Thank you for explaining these things I had no idea of.
I got nauseated just looking at the drawings.LOL
An absolutely brilliant and thought provoking piece. As a Reader and writer of Science Fiction (not SciFi) I found myself attempting to figure out how to reliably compensate for the differing effects involved in either O'Neill Cylinders or Stanford Tori. It's a fantastically mind boggling exercise!😃 Thank you!
I totally get why you would want to distinguish between what you call SciFi and what you call Science Fiction but won't that be a bit tricky given that one is just a shortened version of another? Seems like the kind of language fight you're never gonna finish fighting. Maybe using "hard scifi" works better for that purpose?
A superb presentation of rotational artificial gravity.
Except no mention of splitting the current space station into three sections... a central zero g chamber, and two equally weighted crew chambers 1/2 km away on tethers to allow 1rpm to provide 1g for our astronauts to remain in space longer without health problems. Two rocks tied to a string (called a bola) demonstrates this principle.
Fleetwood Mac
@@unitedspacepirates9075 The structure of the ISS isn't nearly strong enough to support even 1/10 G. It's over $2800/kilo to launch to LEO, and most of it was launched when it was three times that price. If you want a rotating structure that doesn't tear itself to shreds in seconds you need to bring the building material from the Moon or grab a passing asteroid. We cannot boost that sort of mass from Earth's surface at this time.
Do Hampster Wheels even WORK in S.P.A.C.E. ??? Anybody want to Science Fair one up to the ISS?
@@unitedspacepirates9075 But if one or more astronauts from one crew chamber decide to visit the ones at the other chamber, the whole system will be thrown off balance unless compensation is made.
Hard to understand the technical stuff but the graphics help. I watched the whole thing, i was so interested. Great video. In answer to your question, i really do think we should be experimenting on the iss
Best concise video on the subject as far as I have seen!
I've always wondered what the coriolus effect was exactly. Now I know, thank you.
Anti-Science is on the Rise. Please do something against this by asking me and others for some good Channel-Recommendations of Education and/or Science and also give me some.
Very well presented, reference material included, stayed on topic and showed relevant maths equations. Worth watching to the end for the information and presentation techniques.
Thank you for this. I’ve heard others allude to the fact that the taurus design has side effects, but never any explanation of what that meant. Great job.
I have been working on a project and this vide helped me a lot. Thanks
Reminds me of riding the Gravatron amusement rides years ago. Coriolis effect all over the place! We used to walk around while it was spinning(not safe)!
Loved it. I have a heart problem and take medication that stops me from controlling blood flow around my body. If I put my hands In the air the blood drains to my core. If I turn to fast I will pass out. It first it was unbearable. As time went on, I lined to control my reaction to this. I can drive a car and turn the corner without falling out of my seat. This was very hard at the start. I feel a bit like the Coriolis affect you mentioned
i was thinking about that during the canal sickness section. People are very adaptable in that way.
Image playing football a rotating cylinder in space, the length of a foot ball field and about 100 to 200' in diameter. You could throw the ball to a team player towards the ends of the field, to your right of left, or to a player above you. But wait, you'd have to take the Coriolis effect into account. Would make for a really interesting sport.
Domenic DeFrancesco I feel like there’s an awesome scidi film to be made about action taking place on a rotating cylinder!
Although i knew all of this, it was still entertaining to watch. Thank you.
I am baffled at how anyone could click on this video knowing what it's about, sit through (or not) an exceptional presentation about the subject, and still manage to give it a thumbs down. Like wtf did they expect!? It's not clickbait.
The BEST 30 minute documentary EVER!
That’s a very kind comment, thanks!
I agree with @Gluten Free. It seems every video on KZhead is at least 10 minutes even if it's just to demonstrate how to tie shoelaces... they always include irrelevant details like the history of the shoelace. But you have TONS of detailed relevant information in just 30 minutes.
I really liked this video. Any future space station that does not at least have a place to experiment with spin gravity and the effects of lower or higher gravity is in my opinion a bad Idea.
Howdi. I think the first few stations will be the experiments, themselves.
Honestly I wish they could find a way to implement an add on to the current international space station as a test..
Tell Elon that !!! Please !!!
Spinning CAN be used to simulate gravity, but NOT in the way shown above in 2001. I wrote a dedicated comment on this, so I won't go into too much detail here, but if you want to see how rotation can correctly be used to simulate gravity in a microgravity/ zero gravity environment, please follow the link below to a movie (the ONLY movie not to fall victim to hollywood's mistaken assumptions about how forces/ bodies at rest/ in motion all work) and watch it from about 9 minutes and 20 seconds in. This method would work in real life, though if I've done the calculations correctly, the floors (the central axis of the ship) would need to be angled at a minimum of 13 degrees for the 'floors' to seem straight when spinning. kzhead.info/sun/gJeNeN6ZsYN7oqc/bejne.html
Definitely. We really need to start scaling up our stations to include spin gravity.
Love this video ! Really well presented and easily digested
Simplicity in explanation and a hypnotic and soothing voice!
Truly a joy to watch. This video needs to have some sort of KZhead science award.
Thanks John! How did you find our channel?
Cool Worlds. I had been watching SpaceX themed videos and the algorithm seems to have brought the video into my feed. This was something I’d been wondering about for ages and this video discussed this comprehensively and in a way that a non science person could understand. Thanks again.
Wow, excellent production, not that I understood it all but it made me realise that it's a very complex issue and that we are a long way from risking taking long trips in space... even relatively short trips to other planets in the solar system are very risky...
Dan Under space is not for the faint of heart....
Well not in all cases, John, search engine HAVOC. Nasa says that just 37 miles above Venus there is Earth - like gravity with material friendly temperatures of 70 to 80 degrees. So a gondola attached to the underside of an inflatable dirigible would require no artificial gravity as one walks from one section of the gondola to another. And without fear of your drink, or dinner, sliding off the table while you are temporarily in the restroom. All of this natural-gravity is possible because mainly of Venus's diameter (about 7,600 miles compared to Earth's 7,900 miles) Very little oxygen there, it is mostly Nitrogen & a little bit of sulfuric acid dust that the HAVOC dirigibles propellers would navigate at high altitude with - but remember not quite in space - so that's why I'm bullish on the whole HAVOC CONCEPT and there are other advantages over Mars also. In short - whatever bone loss occurs while traveling to Venus would be much less than going to Mars. Furthermore - more importantly - once at that approximate 37 mile altitude propeller orbit around Venus the astronauts & scientist would start regaining what calcium they lost in the 3or 4 month travel they just completed. And gain without having to do 2 hours of exercise every day!
Fuck the risk, man. Let's just do it!
'Merica!
@@richardcaruso7727 Fun fact, our earth's core is made of Plasma, and that's where gravity comes from.
It was amazing to see the graphics of comfort zone and the limits. Never seen that before in a KZhead video about this topic but it was very effective.
Such an eloquent and beautiful channel. Thank you. 🙏
Impressed with this presentation! It definitely stirred up my curiosity. I'd like to see O'Neill's project in space!
this video is amazing, you did such a great job at explaining such a complicated topic!
Har har. Yeah, simpleton amazing!
Awesome video. Just watched The Martian again and was wondering why we havent already built these things. This is exactly what I was looking for. Its channels like this that really make youtube an awesome place.
Thanks!!! Clear, and very well presented without silly comments like other videos by other people
They're not paying you Enough! Thank you so very much. Please Continue professor. Curious minds got to know !
Great summary & vid! So much info - and you went into EVERYTHING I have wanted to know about - well done. Should be required watching for all students interested or studying such things. Well done! Cheers & love from Sydney, Australia. EDIT: and only 4.3K views?! I think, in time, this number will greatly increase....
Many channel on KZhead with good content, presentation etc but they lack of quality narrative voice! I can listen to you with interest for hours!
Great video as always; I really have always love the O'Neill cylinder myself!!
The module on a tether with counterweight would probably be the cheapest in my opinion, and the best way to negate the disorientation problem. Say you make a single large module in orbit. Using a long enough cable, one could achieve a radius similar to that of the Stanford Torus or O'Neal Cylinder using much less material.
redmohawkguy1 yes this is essentially Sorensen’s concept which has the added bonus of controllable gravity
I tend to agree with that, although it's probably more feasible for a space station set-up than a spacecraft that will need to accelerate and decelerate (unless you want to retract the cable everytime for that, or have thrusters on both the module and the counterweight to fire simultaneously). You could get some pretty massive radii for these too if you needed them - we have a lot of materials where the breaking length is measured in kilometers or more.
I'd skip launching a counter weight instead simply launch 2 habitats then link them with a tether...Where they would of course rotate around one another. Water could pumped through the tether to balance out the mass. Such an arrangement could be used to study + or - 1G in LEO or to provide 1G on a trip to Mars or wherever. A similar thing could be done with a narrow shaft instead of a tether which would be more useful on a space station. An elevator of sorts could even be used to transfer from on habitat to another or back and forth from a non rotating zero G center section. Either way the same as with the tether liquid mass would be transferred to keep everything balanced and counter mass of the elevator as it moved.
@@THX..1138 A Kevlar hollow tether should easily do the trick.
@@javaman4584 What could be really useful would be to provide 1G on the way to Mars. Then on the return trip start at .38G(mars surface gravity) and slowly over the 3 to 6 month trip home increase to 1G. Hopefully this would allow the passengers to reacclimatise to 1G on the tip home.
Thank you. This was a very helpful exposition of factors that have to be considered.
Thanks for watching