Getting a full 1g on the moon using a circular track (or other small planets)

I'm wondering if this idea has occurred anywhere else:

If humans need a full one Earth gravity after all, a lunar
settlement could provide that, at least part of the time. Build a
circular track on the surface, with a radius of 1 km. and tilted.
Then have cars travel around the track at the appropriate speed, and
one has full Earth gravity on the Moon.

There will be no atmospheric drag, so no energy is required to keep
the cars going due to this. During the lunar day, photovoltaics on
top of the cars could provide the energy to keep them going. During
the lunar night, temperatures are low enough that they could be
levitated on superconducting magnets.

An alternative way to building a track would be to have a tower with
the cars travelling around, suspended by wires (two at opposite
ends). This could be cheaper to build than a track.

These could be built on all the other planet-like bodies, too.
Possibly including Mars...its atmosphere might be thin enough.

WLM wrote:
I'm wondering if this idea has occurred anywhere else:

Yes. For example, you can find "track habitats" in the GURPS Transhuman
Space series ("Deep Beyond" supplement, I think).

The specifics differ a bit from your proposal, but it's the
same idea. Put habitats on a track for "gravity."

Mike Miller, Materials Engineer

What about those who don't want to live in cars - perhaps they want to
get away from the radiation. Perhaps they want a bit more space. And
how do they get out of the cars?

I only read sci.space.tech, so if you care to reply to this and want me to
see it, cc me.


On 9 Feb 2005, WLM wrote:

I'm wondering if this idea has occurred anywhere else:

In concept: Yes.

If humans need a full one Earth gravity after all, a lunar
settlement could provide that, at least part of the time. Build a
circular track on the surface, with a radius of 1 km. and tilted.
Then have cars travel around the track at the appropriate speed, and
one has full Earth gravity on the Moon.

I've long thought that it would be interesting to build such a structure
here on Earth and run it to produce 1.5 or 2 G. Call it the "High Gravity
Hotel"...

Can you imagine the sort of Olympic training you could do in such a
facility?

It's really no different than the idea of training at high altitude to
increase stamina. At the High Grav Hotel, you train to increase overall
strength and reduce reaction time.

As for air resistence, I think friction from the support bearings is *far*
more likely to be the dominant factor if it's built in an environmentally
controlled space (like under a dome). The idea of superconductive maglev
bearings is interesting.

I always imagined a single large donught or pyramidally shaped building
rather than separate cars though. The central hub (or top of the pyramid)
would contain all the transfer mechanisms for getting into and out of the
the rotating structure for people and provisions.

Alcore


--
Alcore Nilth - The Mad Alchemist of Gevbeck

Alcore wrote:

I've long thought that it would be interesting to build such a
structure here on Earth and run it to produce 1.5 or 2 G. Call it the
"High Gravity Hotel"...

Can you imagine the sort of Olympic training you could do in such a
facility?

Yeah. Much the same training you get by wearing a lead-loaded vest,
weigthed shoes or similar, which is already done.

Yes, I realise the extra strain would be more evenly distributed and
thus the concept migth have some advantages, but I sorta doubt those
advantages would be enough to outweigh the humongous cost and/or the
extremely cramped training-area of such a facility.

Infact the fact that such facilities do not exist is pretty strong
evidence that whomever in the sports looked at it came to the same
conclusion. (and I'm pretty sure someone looked at it, there's tons of
money in sport.)

It's really no different than the idea of training at high altitude to
increase stamina.

Actually it makes little difference if you train at altitude or train at
normal air-pressure and only spend the rest-time at altitude. This is
exploited by building air-tigth houses with underpressure where
athletes sleep and rest. Actual training is mostly *not* done in the
house, I assume because the added cost wouldn't bring that much
benefit.


Eivind Kjørstad

Oh sure, a high gravity room, that sort of thing would be quite useful
if you want to have a high intensity training while you're on your way
to planet Namek.

On 9 Feb 2005 07:51:12 -0800
"WLM" wrote:

I'm wondering if this idea has occurred anywhere else:

If humans need a full one Earth gravity after all, a lunar
settlement could provide that, at least part of the time. Build a
circular track on the surface, with a radius of 1 km. and tilted.
Then have cars travel around the track at the appropriate speed, and
one has full Earth gravity on the Moon.

Yes, you can do that but personally I wouldn't want to go to the moon if I had to live on a train all the time.

There will be no atmospheric drag, so no energy is required to keep
the cars going due to this.

There would be normal mechanical friction which would result in some energy loss.

During the lunar day, photovoltaics on
top of the cars could provide the energy to keep them going. During
the lunar night, temperatures are low enough that they could be
levitated on superconducting magnets.

I doubt it gets cold enough for superconductors to work reliably when exposed on the lunar surface. Remember that heat will radiate out from the surface and tend to keep things warm. And there will still be some energy and momentum lost.

An alternative way to building a track would be to have a tower with
the cars travelling around, suspended by wires (two at opposite
ends). This could be cheaper to build than a track.

These could be built on all the other planet-like bodies, too.
Possibly including Mars...its atmosphere might be thin enough.

No. The atmosphere of mars is denser than you think because of all that CO2. Any moving object will need some energy behind it.

I think people will learn to live with low gravity. Similar to the way that other mammals learnt to live in the ocean.
--
Michael Smith
Network Applications
www.netapps.com.au | +61 (0) 416 062 898
Web Hosting | Internet Services

You can do the same thing by just building a big merry-go-round type
device. Actually, it would be a truncated cone spun about its axis.

Once you get it spinning, there would be no need to worry about adding
energy, except maybe a small amount to overcome a little bearing
friction.


Ray



"WLM" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm wondering if this idea has occurred anywhere else:

If humans need a full one Earth gravity after all, a lunar
settlement could provide that, at least part of the time. Build a
circular track on the surface, with a radius of 1 km. and tilted.
Then have cars travel around the track at the appropriate speed, and
one has full Earth gravity on the Moon.

There will be no atmospheric drag, so no energy is required to keep
the cars going due to this. During the lunar day, photovoltaics on
top of the cars could provide the energy to keep them going. During
the lunar night, temperatures are low enough that they could be
levitated on superconducting magnets.

An alternative way to building a track would be to have a tower with
the cars travelling around, suspended by wires (two at opposite
ends). This could be cheaper to build than a track.

These could be built on all the other planet-like bodies, too.
Possibly including Mars...its atmosphere might be thin enough.

Ray Drouillard wrote:
You can do the same thing by just building a big merry-go-round type
device. Actually, it would be a truncated cone spun about its axis.

Once you get it spinning, there would be no need to worry about
adding
energy, except maybe a small amount to overcome a little bearing
friction.

Had been done already by the first half of the last century, as
entertainment.

It would be a paraboloid, not cone, for obvious reasons. As for
truncating, maybe the centre could be truncated to insert a disc with
entrance, so that people can enter while the merry-go-round is working.

The people who enjoyed it reported how the merry-go-round seemed to
roll under their weight. Which is logical: they were vertical at all
times on a surface they could see to be curved.

In article .com,
"WLM" wrote:

I'm wondering if this idea has occurred anywhere else:

Yes, it's occurred many times to many people.

Best,
- Joe

,------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Joseph J. Strout Check out the Mac Web Directory: |
| http://www.macwebdir.com |
`------------------------------------------------------------------'