If NASA insists in putting space stations in earth orbit why do they not set it spinning to make gravity?

Answer 1

It wouldn't make gravity to spin it. It would create a force which could be used to "push" astronauts towards the axis of rotation which could be used to mimic gravity. See centrifugal force, and wall of death (a fairground attraction) for examples of how it can be used. Newton's Laws of motion don't "care" where an accelerating force comes from, so it can be used to mimic most of gravity's effects.

Could be implemented by sending two (heavy) carrages around a circular track inside/outside a cylindrical section, where the center of gravity for the station coincides with the central axis of the cylinder. At least 2 carrages needed so the stations center of gravity isn't moved. Power only needed to accelerate carrages to speed, and overcome friction.

The spinning wouldn't affect the orbit, as that just depends on the stations center of gravity.

For a small diameter cylinder the angular rotation would have to really fast to generate any sizeable force, but this creates problems to do with dizyness. Large diameter cylinder would cost more, and be inefficent, as you would then be limited to the inside surface of the cylinder, instead of being able to use the entire volume. "Gravity" would also get less as you approached the axis of rotation.

Other reasons why its not done, are probably to do with difficulties in docking, and aligning solar pannels/comunication devices. Also astronauts working on the outside of the station would be flung off unless tied to it.

Might be a good idea if a human carrying space-craft was to travel in a zero gravity enviroment for some time, say a trip to Mars. Space stations are primarly platforms for experimentation. We know a lot about gravity, but not much about the effects of zero-gravity. Space stations help us find out more about gravity and its effects.

Answer 2

Unfortunately we can't make gravity at this time. The spinning, would create a centrifugal force so that if you shaped the space station like a wagon wheel then those people standing inside the "tire" section would be forced "down" onto the outermost part of the wheel/tire. This is effectively shown in the movie 2001 space odyssey... as well as an unbelievably difficult space shuttle docking in the “hub”.

Don't confuse this with the movie Armageddon. In this movie they spin the Russian space station "peace" ... This would not work at all, the station is the wrong shape, and would cause the occupants to be flung into the outward sections of the station. This movie also shows a space shuttle dock, this shuttle dock would be ridiculous and impossible.

In long term space travel, the movie 2010 depicted the Russian space craft Leonov with a spinning crew compartment. While this might actually work, the other section of the ship would ALSO spin, in the opposite direction. In order to stop this spin you would continually have to burn small amounts of fuel to counter the spin.. not very advantageous on long flights.

Spinning a space station has some problems. Solar panel alignment would be much more difficult. Each section of the station would have heat/cool cycles very rapidly (sometimes this is a good thing, but usually not), navigation or changes in direction and altitude would be much more difficult. Angular momentum would be a more important force and bigger problem. The size of the space station would also have to be larger then current stations so that the spin rate could be sensible.

Answer 3

Yes - of course the space station could be spun to give the occupants "weight", but it is a case of not running before you can walk. The ISS is the first big space station to be built. It would need to be structurally stronger and the difficulties in docking would be increased. With these things engineers prefer to tackle one set of problems at a time!

No doubt future space stations will look more like the one in "2001 - A Space Oddysey" but docking and so on would have to be automated to be safe enough, as it is in the movie.

Answer 4

In all honesty, it does have gravity. Anything that has mass has gravity, including you, me, and that pen sitting on the desk. The thing is, these masses lack the weight and density to create a noticeable gravitational pull, especially when it is being over shadowed by Earth, the Moon, and the Sun's gravitational fields.

Spinning it will not produce more gravity. If they wanted to create a stronger gravitational field, they would need to create a denser/heavier space station, which would need to hold its own against the Earth and Moon's gravity. Basically, they'd need to create a Mega-Death Star or similar.

Answer 5

Even though it would make life aboard the space station better there are probably problems associated with it that makes it hard to do. Like how to dock a shuttle to a spinning hatchway.

Answer 6

The space station is nowhere near big enough to create gravity of its own. That is like saying why don't we set you spinning to make gravity? It wouldn't work.

And as for space stationS, i think you'll find there is only one.

Plus, why would you want it to make gravity? surely that would mess up the satelites going past it. Not practical, no use, and it just wouldn't work.

Answer 7

Micro gravity is what you go to low earth orbit to achieve. To do experiments in microgravity. To set the thing spinning in an effort to simulate gravity would defeat the whole purpose.

Answer 8

You know, if it was up to NASA...................

The INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION is not the sole project and property of the US or NASA.

And the amount of centripetal force needed to hold the space station together would require a lot more structural strength than a weightless one. Centripetally-speaking, everything, including the parts that hold the station together would acquire a lot of "weight" not needed at this time to conduct experiments

Baby steps first.

Answer 9

It is too small yet but there are other problems of keeping the solar Cells pointed correctly. In fact to work in 0 G is very important to experiment in. One of the first things is their body dumps calcium as u dint need all the bone structure. The muscles are reduced,the stomach is shrunk,as u don't need so much calories.

Answer 10

Well lets see, The ISS is about the size of a house and is too small to spin like that.

They carry large items through the station so '0-G' comes in handy.

In realalety, the gravety is about 0.9 of earth but the falling creatse the illusion of 0-G.

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