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Question about Centrifugal Gravity
So a lot of movies, TV shows, illustrations, etc., show spacecraft
generating "gravity" via rotating hull sections. In many cases, this rotating section spins around a stationary central hull. The question I have for those more knowledgeable in this area than I is: What is the connection between these two sections? Obviously there shouldn't be a physical connection between the two hull sections (right?). But would this mean space enough between the spinnning hull and the stationary hull for the interior atmosphere to escape? Or is it sealed somehow? Sorry if this is a beginner's or nitpicker's question; it's just something that I've been wondering about for a while. Thanks in advance to everyone who'll help me expand my knowledge here. --James |
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Question about Centrifugal Gravity
On 15/02/2011 10:35 PM, James W wrote:
So a lot of movies, TV shows, illustrations, etc., show spacecraft generating "gravity" via rotating hull sections. In many cases, this rotating section spins around a stationary central hull. The question I have for those more knowledgeable in this area than I is: What is the connection between these two sections? Obviously there shouldn't be a physical connection between the two hull sections (right?). But would this mean space enough between the spinnning hull and the stationary hull for the interior atmosphere to escape? Or is it sealed somehow? Sorry if this is a beginner's or nitpicker's question; it's just something that I've been wondering about for a while. Thanks in advance to everyone who'll help me expand my knowledge here. --James In 2001 A Space Odyssey, it was clear that the entire rotating assembly was inside the non-rotating pressure hull, so that the issue of air leakage didn't arise. In Mission to Mars, that was not the case, and it would have required some kind of sliding hermetic seal which is probably not feasible. In practice, the most obvious solution seems to be to rotate the entire spacecraft, but doing that removes many of the cinematically interesting scenes. Sylvia. |
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Question about Centrifugal Gravity
James W wrote:
So a lot of movies, TV shows, illustrations, etc., show spacecraft generating "gravity" via rotating hull sections. In many cases, this rotating section spins around a stationary central hull. The question I have for those more knowledgeable in this area than I is: What is the connection between these two sections? Obviously there shouldn't be a physical connection between the two hull sections (right?). But would this mean space enough between the spinnning hull and the stationary hull for the interior atmosphere to escape? Or is it sealed somehow? If you have separate rotating and non-rotating sections (as in, for example, the movie "2010"), then yes, you need a rotating air-seal between them. This takes a bit of effort for the engineers, but is certainly possible. -- -- "Jonathan Thornburg [remove -animal to reply]" Dept of Astronomy, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA "Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral." -- quote by Freire / poster by Oxfam |
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Question about Centrifugal Gravity
On 18/02/2011 1:30 AM, Jonathan Thornburg [remove -animal to reply] wrote:
James wrote: So a lot of movies, TV shows, illustrations, etc., show spacecraft generating "gravity" via rotating hull sections. In many cases, this rotating section spins around a stationary central hull. The question I have for those more knowledgeable in this area than I is: What is the connection between these two sections? Obviously there shouldn't be a physical connection between the two hull sections (right?). But would this mean space enough between the spinnning hull and the stationary hull for the interior atmosphere to escape? Or is it sealed somehow? If you have separate rotating and non-rotating sections (as in, for example, the movie "2010"), then yes, you need a rotating air-seal between them. This takes a bit of effort for the engineers, but is certainly possible. Do you have any references describing how it could be achieved? I've looked, and I cannot find anything. Sylvia. |
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Question about Centrifugal Gravity
On Feb 18, 9:03 pm, Sylvia Else wrote:
Do you have any references describing how it could be achieved? I've looked, and I cannot find anything. Fluidic seals of various sorts are one possibility. See, for example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrofluidic_seal |
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Question about Centrifugal Gravity
In article , lid says... On 18/02/2011 1:30 AM, Jonathan Thornburg [remove -animal to reply] wrote: James wrote: So a lot of movies, TV shows, illustrations, etc., show spacecraft generating "gravity" via rotating hull sections. In many cases, this rotating section spins around a stationary central hull. The question I have for those more knowledgeable in this area than I is: What is the connection between these two sections? Obviously there shouldn't be a physical connection between the two hull sections (right?). But would this mean space enough between the spinnning hull and the stationary hull for the interior atmosphere to escape? Or is it sealed somehow? If you have separate rotating and non-rotating sections (as in, for example, the movie "2010"), then yes, you need a rotating air-seal between them. This takes a bit of effort for the engineers, but is certainly possible. Do you have any references describing how it could be achieved? I've looked, and I cannot find anything. Nautilus-X (see the link to the Powerpoint in the article below) http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=36068 Jeff -- " Solids are a branch of fireworks, not rocketry. :-) :-) ", Henry Spencer 1/28/2011 |
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Question about Centrifugal Gravity
Sylvia Else wrote:
On 18/02/2011 1:30 AM, Jonathan Thornburg [remove -animal to reply] wrote: James wrote: So a lot of movies, TV shows, illustrations, etc., show spacecraft generating "gravity" via rotating hull sections. In many cases, this rotating section spins around a stationary central hull. The question I have for those more knowledgeable in this area than I is: What is the connection between these two sections? Obviously there shouldn't be a physical connection between the two hull sections (right?). But would this mean space enough between the spinnning hull and the stationary hull for the interior atmosphere to escape? Or is it sealed somehow? If you have separate rotating and non-rotating sections (as in, for example, the movie "2010"), then yes, you need a rotating air-seal between them. This takes a bit of effort for the engineers, but is certainly possible. Do you have any references describing how it could be achieved? I've looked, and I cannot find anything. It can be done at simplest with the kind of rubber seal used in car engines to keep the oil in, or with various other rotating seals of greater complexity - but it doesn't usually need to be done. For instance in a long flight, eg to Mars, you spin up the living capsule say at one end of a tether and the landing module or whatever at the other end, and it just stays spinning until a day or two before you arrive. For a space station with two sections the airlock between them (you do want an airlock there!) either mates with the spinning section or with the stationary section. When moving from the rotating section the airlock opens to the RS, people transfer into the airlock, it closes, it unmates with the RS, it despins, then it mates with the stationary section etc. In some scenarios the sections should not be in contact, if possible - the main reason for having two sections is that you want microgravity in one section and earthlike gravity in the other. In order to have good microgravity with eg a rotating seal the center of gravity of the rotating section must be at the center of the seal - but this causes problems as eg people move around the rotating section. This also puts pressure on the seal. It may be best to have no actual contact between the sections, just a transfer airlock. -- Peter Fairbrother |
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Yes,Person precisely standing at the axis of rotation i.e. either of poles , observes no torque hence no external force exerted due gravitational field .
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