Can man ever create gravity equal to Earth on the moon?

Question

With many countries eyeing the moon for habitation, is there a way to create gravity, an atmosphere, and so on? What do scientists guess as the best possible life for humans on the moon?

Answer 1

Not yet... but things are only impossible until they're not.

The moon simply doesn't have enough gravity to hold a breathable atmosphere in place. In theory, the technology exists right now to increase the moon's gravity by increasing its mass (and by that, I mean *literally* moving rocks and dirt from the Earth or someplace else to the moon), but the amount that would need to be moved is ridiculous.

What we would need to do is instill the moon with artificial gravity somehow. A previous answer suggested speeding up the rotating of the moon, presumably the way a spacecraft can create artificial gravity by rotating. This simulates gravity by "pushing" objects away from the center of rotation. But this wouldn't work for a spherical object without an interior (i.e. the moon). The "gravity generator" would have to simulate a much heavier core within the moon, which as mentioned before would probably wreak havoc on the nearby Earth.

Gravity is, unfortunately, the least understood of the fundamental forces of the universe, and until we at least understand it's underpinnings, there's little we can do to control it.

Answer 2

Gravity can't be affected more than it can be reversed. Even if we could and would it would affect life on earth in a tremendously bad way - look at what the moons gravity already is creating in the form of tidal waves etc.

Atmosphere - there's a tiny excuse for atmosphere on the moon, but since we can't increase gravity we can't have heavier gases on the moon (like oxygen for example). We could build some kind of tents there I guess but what for - the biggest problem would be water and as I recall there's no good way to extract water from the moon itself.

Scientist guess at best possible life for humans on the moon?
A short life. Very short.

Answer 3

No need to replicate Earth's gravity. The 1/6 gravity holds you well enough, and if you weight 30 pounds instead of 180, it's easier on the knees.

Creating atmosphere on a planetary scale has never been done. However, a sealed dome system, where plants create oxygen for people, and people create CO2 for plants, is more likely. Like the Biosphere II in Arizona, but on the moon.

Answer 4

I don't even think it's theoretically possible to increase the Moon's gravity, but I know it's not technically possible (i.e., with today's technology). Someone above wrongly said increasing the Moon's rotation would increase its gravity, which is completely wrong.

Creating an atmosphere and terraforming in general is also beyond today's technology. Even if it were done, it would probably be more practical to create a biodome for people to live in rather than terraform the whole Moon, but I have to admit that I'm a bit rusty on this topic.

Google terraforming, you might find something interesting.

Answer 5

In a word, "no".

We have neither the technology nor do we have any idea how to do that at this point. We have the ability to mimic gravity using centrifuges, but we can not actually control gravity.

Our best bet for lunar colonies at this point would be inflatable dome structures that can be filled with air. From within, we could begin mining the mood for materials and at the same time hollowing out huge caverns beneath the moon's surface as a more permenant dwelling space.

Over generations, our descendants would begin to adapt to the change. Most likely they would grow taller and be more frail. They might have a highly developed sense of balance, slower metabolism, sensitivity to lower levels of light, etc. Of course that is all speculation.

Answer 6

Artificial gravity can be produced, but at this time, only in space.

It can be done by creating a space station in the form of a wheel. Its spinning motion can create an artificial gravity similar to that on Earth. It's the same principle used in a centrifuge.

People walking on the inner rim of the spinning wheel will experience the effect of gravity as it spins. How much artificial gravity they experience depends on how fast the space station is rotating. That's the only way we can do it at the moment, but the effect is identical to gravity.

We don't yet know how natural gravity originates, so we can't synthesize it like we do light or other forms of energy and forces which we know how to create.

Perhaps someday we will be able to.

See here for some interesting info on artificial gravity.
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/artificial_gravity_041125.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_gravity
 

Answer 7

Theoretically there could be an atmosphere and life on the moon, but the gravity would always be 1/6 of Earth's. To fix this we would need to speed up the moon's rotation and we do not have the means to do this.

Answer 8

Well until gravity plating from StarTrek enters the picture....not in your lifetime.

The best possible life of humans on the moon.....ADAPTATION
Not just normal adapting. Genetic adapting. A species of human that can breath thin air on a terraformed moon or 1 species that can survive the harsh environment of Venus or Mars.

It is far cheaper/easier/ and possible to alter DNA rather than the environment of an alien world.

Answer 9

we will build lunar modules that would house our colonies, we would not "terraform" the moon, at least not anytime soon .. as for water/air, they are looking for ice on the moon and have a spot that is promising, also they are looking at harvesting asteroids for water/ice as well as oxygen to breath ... For the Gravity, we are still not sure what "gravity" actually is, we know how to use gravity and comprehend it's effect, but not on how to make artificial gravity ... so expect it to be a science research station on the moon, and not a city ...

Answer 10

Man will someday probably be able to control gravity...