Long-term space flights, the exploration of other planets, what science fiction writers Isaac Asimov, Stanislav Lem, Alexander Belyaev and others previously wrote about, will become a completely possible reality thanks to knowledge. Since by recreating the earth's level of gravity, we will be able to avoid the negative consequences of microgravity (weightlessness) for humans (muscle atrophy, sensory, motor and autonomic disorders). That is, almost anyone who wants to can go to space, regardless of the physical characteristics of their body. At the same time, your stay on board the spacecraft will become more comfortable. People will be able to use existing devices and facilities that are familiar to them (for example, a shower, a toilet).
On Earth, the level of gravity is determined by the acceleration of gravity, on average equal to 9.81 m/s 2 (“overload” 1 g), while in space, in conditions of weightlessness, approximately 10 -6 g. K.E. Tsiolkovsky cited analogies between the sensation of body weight when immersed in water or lying in bed with the state of weightlessness in space.
“The earth is the cradle of the mind, but you cannot live forever in the cradle.”
“The world should be even simpler.”
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Interestingly, for gravitational biology, the ability to create different gravitational conditions will be a real breakthrough. It will be possible to study: how the structure, functions at the micro and macro levels change, patterns under gravitational influences of different magnitudes and directions. These discoveries, in turn, will help develop a fairly new direction - gravitational therapy. The possibility and effectiveness of using changes in gravity (increased compared to Earth's) for treatment is being considered. We feel an increase in gravity, as if the body has become a little heavier. Today, research is being conducted on the use of gravity therapy for hypertension, as well as for the restoration of bone tissue in fractures.
(artificial gravity) in most cases are based on the principle of equivalence of the forces of inertia and gravity. The principle of equivalence says that we feel approximately the same acceleration of movement without distinguishing the cause that caused it: gravity or inertial forces. In the first version, acceleration occurs due to the influence of the gravitational field, in the second, due to the acceleration of the movement of the non-inertial reference system (a system that moves with acceleration) in which the person is located. For example, a similar effect of inertial forces is experienced by a person in an elevator (non-inertial frame of reference) during a sharp rise up (with acceleration, a feeling as if the body has become heavier for a few seconds) or braking (the feeling that the floor is moving away from under one’s feet). From the point of view of physics: when the elevator rises upward, the acceleration of the movement of the cabin is added to the acceleration of free fall in a non-inertial system. When uniform movement is restored, the “gain” in weight disappears, that is, the usual feeling of body weight returns.
Today, like almost 50 years ago, centrifuges are used to create artificial gravity (centrifugal acceleration is used when rotating space systems). Simply put, during the rotation of the space station around its axis, centrifugal acceleration will occur, which will “push” a person away from the center of rotation and as a result, the astronaut or other objects will be able to be on the “floor”. To better understand this process and what difficulties scientists face, let's look at the formula that determines the centrifugal force when rotating a centrifuge:
F=m*v 2 *r, where m is mass, v is linear speed, r is distance from the center of rotation.
Linear speed is equal to: v=2π*rT, where T is the number of revolutions per second, π ≈3.14…
That is, the faster the spacecraft rotates, and the farther from the center the astronaut is, the stronger the artificial gravity created will be.
Having carefully looked at the figure, we can notice that with a small radius, the force of gravity for a person’s head and legs will be significantly different, which in turn will make movement difficult.
When the astronaut moves in the direction of rotation, the Coriolis force arises. In this case, there is a high probability that the person will constantly get motion sickness. This can be circumvented if the ship rotates at a rotation frequency of 2 revolutions per minute, which creates an artificial gravity force of 1g (as on Earth). But the radius will be 224 meters (approximately ¼ kilometer, this distance is similar to the height of a 95-story building or the length of two large redwood trees). That is, theoretically it is possible to build an orbital station or a spacecraft of this size. But in practice, this requires significant expenditure of resources, effort and time, which, in the context of approaching global cataclysms (see report
) more humanely direct to real help to those in need.
Due to the impossibility of recreating the required level of gravity for a person on an orbital station or spacecraft, scientists decided to study the possibility of “lowering the set bar,” that is, creating a gravity force less than that on Earth. Which suggests that over half a century of research it has not been possible to obtain satisfactory results. This is not surprising since in experiments they strive to create conditions under which the force of inertia or others would have an effect similar to the effect of gravity on Earth. That is, it turns out that artificial gravity, in fact, is not gravity.
Today in science there are only theories about what gravity is, most of which are based on the theory of relativity. Moreover, not one of them is complete (does not explain the course, the results of any experiments under any conditions, and besides, sometimes it is not consistent with other physical theories confirmed experimentally). There is no clear knowledge and understanding: what gravity is, how gravity is related to space and time, what particles it consists of and what their properties are. Answers to these and many other questions can be found by comparing the information presented in the book “Ezoosmos” by A. Novykh and the report PRIMORDIAL ALLATRA PHYSICS. offers a completely new approach that is based on basic knowledge of the primary principles of physics fundamental particles, patterns of their interaction. That is, based on a deep understanding of the essence of the gravitation process and, as a consequence, the possibility of accurate calculations for recreating any values of gravitational conditions both in space and on Earth (gravitational therapy), predicting the results of conceivable and inconceivable experiments carried out by both man and nature.
PRIMORDIAL ALLATRA PHYSICS is much more than just physics. It opens up possible solutions to problems of any complexity. But most importantly, thanks to knowledge of the processes occurring at the level of particles and real actions, each person can understand the meaning of his life, understand how the system works and gain practical experience in contact with the spiritual world. To realize the globality and primacy of the Spiritual, to get out of the framework/template limitations of consciousness, beyond the limits of the system, to find True Freedom.
“As they say, when you have universal keys in your hands (knowledge about the basics of elementary particles), you can open any door (of the micro- and macroworld).”
“Under such conditions, a qualitatively new transition of civilization into the mainstream of spiritual self-development, large-scale scientific knowledge of the world and oneself is possible.”
“Everything that oppresses a person in this world, from obsessive thoughts, aggressive emotions and ending with the stereotyped desires of an egoistic consumer ‒ this is the result of a person’s choice in favor of the septon field‒ a material intelligent system that routinely exploits humanity. But if a person follows the choice of his spiritual beginning, then he acquires immortality. And there is no religion in this, but there is knowledge of physics, its primordial foundations.”
Elena Fedorova
In space, although all mass in the Universe is subject to the force of gravity, as usual, there is no sense of "up" and "down" as on Earth, since the spacecraft and everything on board is accelerated by gravity at the same rate.
If you place a person in space, away from the gravitational influences experienced on the surface of the Earth, he will experience weightlessness. Although all the masses of the Universe will continue to attract him, they will continue to attract the spaceship, so the person will “float” inside. In TV series and films like Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and many others, we are always shown how crew members stand stably on the floor of the ship, regardless of other conditions. This would require the ability to create artificial gravity - but given the laws of physics as we know them today, this is too difficult a task. 
Captain Gabriel Lorca on the bridge of the Discovery during a simulated battle with the Klingons. The entire team is pulled “down” by artificial gravity – today the technology is out of science fiction.
An important lesson from the equivalence principle is associated with gravity: a uniformly accelerating frame of reference is indistinguishable from a gravitational field. If you're in a rocket and can't look out, you'll have no way of understanding what's going on: are you being pushed "down" by gravity, or by the rocket's uniform acceleration in one direction? This idea led to the formulation of the general theory of relativity, and, more than a hundred years later, it is the best description of gravity and acceleration known to us.
The identical behavior of a ball falling to the floor in an accelerating rocket and on Earth demonstrates Einstein's principle of equivalence
There's another trick we could use: make the ship rotate. Instead of linear acceleration (the accelerating force of a rocket), you can get centrifugal acceleration, in which the person on board will feel like he is being pulled by the ship's hull. The movie 2001: A Space Odyssey is famous for this, and this force would be indistinguishable from gravity in a large enough ship.
But that's all. Three types of acceleration - gravitational, linear and rotational - are the only forces at our disposal that have a gravitational effect. And for those on board the spacecraft, this is a big, big problem.
A 1969 concept for a space station that was supposed to be assembled in orbit from used Apollo stages. The station was supposed to rotate around a central axis and generate artificial gravity.
Why? Because to travel to another star system, you will have to speed up the ship on the way there, and slow it down upon arrival. If you can't defend against these accelerations, you'll fail. For example, to accelerate to Star Trek's "pulse speed," a few percent of the speed of light, one would have to endure 4,000 g's of acceleration for an hour. That's 100 times the acceleration that would prevent blood from flowing through your body—a pretty nasty situation no matter how you look at it.
The launch of the Columbia shuttle in 1992 shows that rocket acceleration does not occur instantly, but lasts for quite a long time, many minutes. The spacecraft had to have an acceleration much greater than the human body could withstand.
Moreover, unless you want to be weightless during a long journey, and suffer terrible biological effects like bone loss and space blindness, you need to have a constant force acting on your body. For forces other than gravity, this would not be a problem. For example, for electromagnetic interference, it would be possible to place the command in a conductive shell and this would eliminate all external electromagnetic fields. And then inside it would be possible to arrange two parallel plates and organize a constant electric field that would force the charges to move in a certain direction.
Oh, if only gravity worked the same way.
Schematic diagram of a capacitor, two parallel conducting plates of which have charges of equal magnitude and opposite sign, which creates an electric field between them
There are no “gravitational conductors”, and there is no way to protect yourself from gravity. It is impossible to create a uniform gravitational field between any plates in a certain area of space. The reason is that, unlike electricity, which is created by positive and negative charges, gravitational “charge” comes in one type, mass-energy. The force of gravity always attracts, and nothing can be done about it. You'll have to do your best with the three available types of acceleration - gravitational, linear and rotational.
The vast majority of quarks and leptons in the Universe consist of matter, but for each of them there are also antimatter particles, the gravitational masses of which have not been determined
The only way to create artificial gravity that could protect you from the effects of ship acceleration and give you a constant "downward" pull without acceleration would be to discover a new type of negative gravitational mass. All particles and antiparticles we have discovered have positive mass, but these are inertial masses, that is, masses related to the acceleration or creation of particles (that is, this is the m from the equations F = ma and E = mc 2). We have shown that the inertial and gravitational masses are the same for all known particles, but have not yet carried out sufficiently thorough tests for antimatter and antiparticles.
The ALPHA collaboration has come closer than other experiments to measuring the behavior of neutral antimatter in a gravitational field
And experiments are underway in this area right now! The ALPHA experiment at CERN produced antihydrogen, a stable form of neutral antimatter, and is now working to isolate it from all other particles at low speeds. If it turns out to be sensitive enough, we will be able to measure which way antimatter will move in a gravitational field. If it falls down like a normal one, then its gravitational mass is greater than zero, and it cannot be used to create a gravitational conductor. But if it goes up, it will change everything. A single experimental result will suddenly make artificial gravity physically possible.
The possibility of artificial gravity is tempting, but it requires the existence of negative gravitational mass. Antimatter could become such a mass, but this is still unknown.
If antimatter has negative gravitational mass, then by making the ceiling of the room out of antimatter and the floor out of matter, we can create an artificial gravitational field that constantly pulls you “down.” By constructing the shell of the ship from a gravitational conductor, we will protect everyone inside it from the forces of ultra-high acceleration, which would otherwise be fatal. And best of all, people in space will no longer suffer from the negative physiological effects, from vestibular dysfunction to cardiac muscle atrophy, that plague modern astronauts. But until we discover a particle (or set of particles) with negative gravitational mass, artificial gravity can only be achieved through acceleration.
Problems with the vestibular system are not the only consequence of prolonged exposure to microgravity. Astronauts who spend more than a month on the ISS often suffer from sleep disturbances, slow cardiovascular function, and flatulence.
NASA recently completed an experiment in which scientists studied the genome of twin brothers: one of them spent almost a year on the ISS, the other made only short flights and spent most of the time on Earth. Long-term stay in space led to the fact that 7% of the DNA of the first astronaut changed forever - we are talking about genes associated with the immune system, bone formation, oxygen starvation and excess carbon dioxide in the body.
NASA compared twin astronauts to see how the human body changes in space
In microgravity conditions, a person will be forced to remain inactive: we are not talking about astronauts staying on the ISS, but about flights into deep space. To find out how such a regime would affect the health of astronauts, the European Space Agency (ESA) placed 14 volunteers in a bed tilted to the side of the head for 21 days. The experiment, which will test the latest methods of combating weightlessness - such as improved exercise and nutrition regimens - is planned to be jointly conducted by NASA and Roscosmos.
But if people decide to send ships to Mars or Venus, more extreme solutions will be needed - artificial gravity.
How gravity can exist in space
First of all, it is worth understanding that gravity exists everywhere - in some places it is weaker, in others it is stronger. And outer space is no exception.
The ISS and satellites are constantly under the influence of gravity: if an object is in orbit, it falls around the Earth, to put it simply. A similar effect occurs if you throw a ball forward - before it hits the ground, it will fly a little in the direction of the throw. If you throw the ball harder, it will fly further. If you are Superman, and the ball is a rocket engine, it will not fall to the ground, but will fly around it and continue to rotate, gradually entering orbit.
Microgravity assumes that the people inside the ship are not in the air - they fall from the ship, which in turn falls around the Earth.
Because gravity is the force of attraction between two masses, we stay on the surface of the Earth when we walk on it, rather than floating into the sky. In this case, the entire mass of the Earth attracts the mass of our bodies to its center.
When ships go into orbit, they float freely in outer space. They are still subject to the gravitational pull of the Earth, but the ship and the objects or passengers in it are subject to gravity in the same way. Existing devices are not massive enough to create a noticeable attraction, so people and objects in them do not stand on the floor, but “float” in the air.
How to create artificial gravity
Artificial gravity as such does not exist; in order to create it, a person needs to learn everything about natural gravity. In science fiction, there is the concept of simulating gravity: it allows the crew of spaceships to walk on the deck and objects to stand on it.
In theory, there are two ways to create simulated gravity, and neither of them has yet been used in real life. The first is the use of centripetal force to simulate gravity. The ship or station must be a wheel-like structure consisting of several constantly rotating segments.
According to this concept, the centripetal acceleration of the device, pushing the modules towards the center, will create a semblance of gravity or conditions similar to those on Earth. This concept was demonstrated in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and Christopher Nolan's Interstellar.
The concept of a device that creates centripetal acceleration to simulate gravity
The author of this project is considered to be the German rocket scientist and engineer Wernher von Braun, who led the development of the Saturn 5 rocket, which delivered the Apollo 11 crew and several other manned vehicles to the Moon.
As director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, von Braun popularized Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's idea of creating a toroidal space station based on a hub design reminiscent of a bicycle wheel. If a wheel rotates in space, then inertia and centrifugal force can create a kind of artificial gravity that pulls objects towards the outer circumference of the wheel. This will allow people and robots to walk on the floor, as on Earth, rather than float in the air, as on the ISS.
However, this method has significant drawbacks: the smaller the spacecraft, the faster it must rotate - this will lead to the emergence of the so-called Cornolis force, in which points located further from the center will be influenced more strongly by gravity than those closer to it . In other words, gravity will be stronger on the astronauts' heads than on their legs, which they won't like.
To avoid this effect, the size of the ship must be several times larger than the size of a football field - putting such a device into orbit will be extremely expensive, given that the cost of one kilogram of cargo during commercial launches varies from $1.5 thousand to $3 thousand.
Another method of creating a gravity simulation is more practical, but also extremely expensive - we are talking about the acceleration method. If the ship first accelerates on a certain segment of the path, and then turns around and begins to slow down, then the effect of artificial gravity will arise.
To implement this method, enormous reserves of fuel will be required - the fact is that the engines must operate almost continuously, with the exception of a short break in the middle of the journey - during the turn of the ship.
Real examples
Despite the high cost of launching gravity-simulating spacecraft, companies around the world are trying to build such ships and stations.
The Gateway Foundation, a research foundation that plans to build a rotating station in Earth orbit, is trying to implement Von Braun’s concept. It is assumed that capsules will be located around the circumference of the wheel, which can be purchased by public and private aerospace companies for research. Some capsules will be sold as villas to the world's wealthiest residents, while others will be used as hotels for space tourists. unveiled the concept of a rotating spacecraft with inflatable modules, the Nautilus-X, which would reduce the effects of microgravity on the scientists on board.
It was assumed that the project would cost only $3.7 billion - very little for such devices - and would take 64 months to build. However, Nautilus-X never moved beyond the initial drawings and proposals.
Conclusion
For now, the most likely way to obtain a simulated gravity that will protect the ship from the effects of acceleration and provide constant gravity without the need to constantly use engines is to detect a particle with negative mass. Every particle and antiparticle that scientists have ever discovered has positive mass. It is known that negative mass and gravitational mass are equal to each other, but so far researchers have not been able to demonstrate this knowledge in practice.
Researchers at the ALPHA experiment at CERN have already created antihydrogen - a stable form of neutral antimatter - and are working to isolate it from all other particles at very low speeds. If scientists manage to do this, it is likely that in the near future artificial gravity will become more real than it is now.
The text of the work is posted without images and formulas.
The full version of the work is available in the "Work Files" tab in PDF format
Goals and objectives of the study
The purpose of my research work is to consider such a fundamental interaction as gravity, its phenomena and the problem of space settlements with artificial gravity, to consider the features of using various types of engines to create artificial gravity, to develop ideas about life in space in conditions of artificial gravity and to solve problems arising when the creation of this project, the integration of patents of advanced technologies to solve the problems of artificial gravity.
The relevance of research.
Space settlements are a type of space station where a person could live for a long period of time or even a lifetime. To create such settlements, you need to think through all the necessary conditions for optimal life activity - a life support system, artificial gravity, protection from space influences, etc. And although it is quite difficult to implement all the conditions, a number of science fiction writers and engineers have already created several projects that, perhaps, will create amazing space settlements in the future.
Significance and novelty of the research.
Artificial gravity is a promising area for research, because it will provide long-term stay in space and the possibility of long-distance space flights. The construction of space settlements could provide funds for further exploration; If we launch a space tourism program, which will be a very expensive pleasure, space corporations will receive an additional stream of funding, and research can be carried out in all directions, without being limited by possibilities.
Gravity. Gravitational phenomena. Gravity.
Gravity is one of the four types of fundamental interactions, or in other words - such an attractive force directed towards the center of mass of any object and to the center of mass of a cluster of objects; the greater the mass, the higher the gravity. As you move away from an object, the force of attraction towards it tends to zero, but under ideal conditions it never disappears at all. That is, if we imagine an absolute vacuum without a single extra particle of any origin, then in this space any objects that have even an infinitesimal mass, in the absence of any other external forces, will be attracted to each other at any infinitely distant distance.
At low speeds, gravity is described by Newtonian mechanics. And at speeds comparable to the speed of light, gravitational phenomena are described by SRT
A. Einstein.
Within the framework of Newtonian mechanics, gravity is described by the law of universal gravitation, which states that two point (or spherical) bodies are attracted to each other with a force directly proportional to the product of the masses of these bodies, inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them and acting along the straight line connecting these bodies.
In the high-velocity approximation, gravity is explained by special relativity, which has two postulates:
Einstein's principle of relativity, which states that natural phenomena occur equally in all inertial frames of reference.
The principle of constancy of the speed of light, which states that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant (contradicts the law of addition of speeds).
To describe gravity, a special extension of the theory of relativity has been developed, which allows for the curvature of space-time. However, dynamics even within the framework of STR can include gravitational interaction, as long as the gravitational field potential is much smaller. It should also be noted that STR ceases to work on the scale of the entire Universe, requiring replacement by GRT.
Gravitational phenomena.
The most striking gravitational phenomenon is attraction. There is also another phenomenon associated with gravity - weightlessness.
Thanks to gravitational forces, we walk on the earth, and our planet exists, like the entire Universe. But what happens if we leave the planet? We will experience one of the brightest gravitational phenomena - weightlessness. Weightlessness is a state of the body in which no forces other than gravitational forces act on it, or these forces are compensated.
Astronauts staying on the ISS are in a state of weightlessness, which negatively affects their health. When transitioning from the conditions of earth's gravity to conditions of weightlessness (primarily, when a spacecraft enters orbit), most astronauts experience an organism reaction called space adaptation syndrome. When a person stays in space for a long time (more than a week), the lack of gravity begins to cause certain changes in the body that are negative. The first and most obvious consequence of weightlessness is the rapid atrophy of muscles: the muscles are actually turned off from human activity, as a result all the physical characteristics of the body deteriorate. In addition, the consequence of a sharp decrease in the activity of muscle tissue is a reduction in the body's oxygen consumption, and due to the resulting excess hemoglobin, the activity of the bone marrow, which synthesizes it, may decrease. There is also reason to believe that limited mobility disrupts phosphorus metabolism in the bones, which leads to a decrease in their strength.
In order to get rid of the negative effects of weightlessness it is necessary to create artificial gravity in space.
Artificial gravity and space settlements. Early research of the 20th century.
Tsiolkovsky proposed the theory of etheric settlements, which were a torus that slowly rotates around its axis. But at that time such ideas were a utopia and all his projects remained in sketches.
The first developed project was proposed by the Austrian scientist Hermann Nordrung in 1928. It was also a torus-shaped station, including habitation modules, a power generator and an astronomical observatory module.
The next project was proposed by Wernher von Braun, a leading specialist in the American space program; it was also a torus-shaped station where people would live and work in rooms connected into one large corridor. Werner's project was one of NASA's priorities until the advent of the Skylab project in the 60s.
Skylab, the first and only US national orbital station, was intended for technological, astrophysical, medical and biological research, as well as for Earth observation. Launched on May 14, 1973, hosted three Apollo missions from May 1973 to February 1974, deorbited and collapsed on July 11, 1979.
Further, in 1965, the American Space Society suggested that the ideal shape for space settlements would be a torus, since all the modules are located together, the gravity force will have a maximum value. The problem of artificial gravity seemed largely solved.
The next project was put forward by Gerard O'Neill, he envisioned the creation of colonies, for which it is proposed to use two giant-sized cylinders, enclosed in a frame and rotating in different directions. These cylinders rotate around their own axis at a speed of about 0.53 revolutions per minute, due to which the force of gravity familiar to humans is created in the colony.
In 1975, Parker put forward a project to create a colony with a diameter of 100 m and a length of 1 km, located at a distance of about 400,000 km from the Earth and the Moon and designed for 10,000 people. Rotation around the longitudinal axis at a speed of 1 revolution per 21 seconds will create a gravity close to that of the Earth.
In 1977, NASA Ames Research Center researcher Richard Johnson and Professor Charles Holbrow of Colgate University published the paper Space Settlements, which looked at promising research into torus-shaped settlements.
In 1994, under the direction of Dr. Rodney Galloway, with the participation of scientists and laboratory scientists at Phillips Laboratory and Sandia Laboratories, as well as other research centers of the United States Air Force and the University of Arizona Space Research Center, a voluminous manual was compiled for the design of torus-shaped space settlements.
Modern research.
One of the modern projects in the field of space settlements is the Stanford Torus, which is a direct descendant of the ideas of Wernher von Braun.
The Stanford Torus was proposed to NASA during the summer of 1975 by Stanford University students to conceptualize the design of future space colonies. Gerard O'Neill later introduced his "Island One" or "Bernal Sphere" as an alternative to the torus. The "Stanford Torus", only in a more detailed version, representing the concept of a ring-shaped rotating space station, was presented by Wernher von Braun, as well as by the Slovenian-born Austrian engineer Hermann Potocnik.
It is a torus with a diameter of about 1.8 kilometers (for habitation of 10 thousand people, as described in the work of 1975) and rotates around its axis (revolutions per minute), creating an artificial gravity of 0.9 - 1 g on the ring due to centrifugal strength.
Sunlight enters through a system of mirrors. The ring is connected to the hub through “spokes” - corridors for the movement of people and goods to the axle and back. The hub, the axis of rotation of the station, is best suited for the docking station for receiving spacecraft, since artificial gravity is negligible here: there is a stationary module docked to the axis of the station.
The interior of the torus is habitable, large enough to create an artificial ecosystem, a natural environment, and inside is like a long, narrow glacial valley whose ends eventually curve upward to form a circle. The population lives here in conditions similar to a densely populated suburb, and inside the ring there are branches for farming and a residential part. (Annex 1)
Space settlements and artificial gravity in culture. Elysium
Ring worlds, such as those depicted in the sci-fi action movie Elysium or the video game Halo, are perhaps some of the most interesting ideas for future space stations. In Elysium, the station is close to Earth and, if you ignore its size, has a certain degree of realism. However, the biggest problem here is its “openness,” which is pure fantasy in appearance alone.
“Perhaps the most controversial issue about Elysium Station is its openness to the space environment.”
“The film shows how the spaceship simply lands on a lawn after arriving from outer space. There are no docking gates or anything like that. But such a station must be completely isolated from the external environment. Otherwise, the atmosphere here won't last long. Perhaps the open areas of the station could be protected by some kind of invisible field that would allow sunlight to penetrate inside and support life in the plants and trees planted there. But for now this is just fantasy. There are no such technologies."
The very idea of a station in the shape of rings is wonderful, but so far unrealizable.
Star Wars
Almost every science fiction movie fan knows what the Death Star is. This is such a large gray and round space station from the Star Wars movie epic, which looks very much like the Moon. This is an intergalactic planet destroyer, which is essentially itself an artificial planet made of steel and inhabited by stormtroopers.
Can we really build such an artificial planet and roam the expanses of the galaxy on it? In theory - yes. This alone will require an incredible amount of human and financial resources.
The issue of building the Death Star was even raised by the American White House, after the society sent a corresponding petition for consideration. The official response from the authorities was that $852,000,000,000,000,000 would be required for construction steel alone.
But even if the issue of finance were not a priority, then humanity does not have the technology to recreate the Death Star, since a huge amount of energy is needed to move it.
(Appendix 2)
Problems in implementing the space settlements project.
Space settlements are a promising direction in the space industry of the future, but as always there are difficulties that must be overcome to complete this task.
from radiation;
providing heat;
from foreign objects;
Initial capital costs;
Internal life support systems;
Creation of artificial gravity;
Protection from hostile external conditions:
There are several ways to solve the problem.
When it comes to comparing the efficiency of different types of engines, engineers usually talk about specific impulse. Specific impulse is defined as the change in impulse per unit mass of fuel consumed. Thus, the more efficient the engine, the less fuel is required to launch the rocket into space. Impulse, in turn, is the result of the action of a force over a certain time. Chemical rockets, although they have very high thrust, operate for only a few minutes and therefore have a very low specific impulse. Ion engines, capable of operating for years, can have high specific impulse with very low thrust.
Initial capital costs - this problem can be solved together if people put aside their personal ambitions and work for the greater good. After all, the future of humanity depends only on us.
Internal life support systems - already now on the ISS there are systems for reusing water, but this is not enough; provided there is enough space on the orbital station, you can find a place for a greenhouse in which plants that release maximum oxygen will grow; there is also the creation of hydroponic laboratories for growing GMOs that will be able to supply food to the entire population of the station.
Creating artificial gravity is not such a difficult task as delivering the huge amount of fuel needed to rotate the station.
Use a standard approach and apply jet engines to the problem. Calculations show that using any known jet engine would require enormous amounts of fuel to run the station for at least a year.
Specific impulse I (LPRE) = 4.6
Specific impulse I (solid propellant rocket engine) = 2.65
Specific impulse I (EP) = 10
Specific Impulse I (Plasma Engine) = 290
This is the fuel consumption for 1 year, therefore, it is unwise to use jet engines.
My idea is this.
Let's consider an elementary case.
Let us have a carousel that is motionless. Then, if we fix n number of unipolar electromagnets along the edge of the carousel so that the force of their interaction is maximum, we get the following: if we turn on electromagnet No. 1 so that it acts on electromagnet No. 2 with a force x times greater than the second one acts on first, then according to Newton’s III law, the force of action of electromagnet No. 1 on No. 2 from the side of No. 2 will be compensated by the reaction force of the carousel support, which will bring the carousel out of rest. Now turn off No. 1, raise the strength of No. 2 to No. 1 and turn on No. 3 with a force equal to No. 2 at the previous stage, and if we continue this procedure, we will achieve rotation of the carousel. By applying this method to the space station, we will obtain a solution to the problem of artificial gravity.
(Appendix 3).
Protection from hostile environmental conditions
Radiation protection patent № 2406661
patent holder Alexey Gennadievich Rebeko
The invention relates to methods and means of protecting crew and equipment from ionizing radiation (charged high-energy particles) during space flights. According to the invention, a protective static electric or magnetic field is created around the spacecraft, which is localized in the space between two closed, non-contacting surfaces nested inside each other. The protected space of the spacecraft is limited by the inner surface, and the outer surface isolates the spacecraft and the protected space from interplanetary plasma. The shape of the surfaces can be arbitrary. When using an electric protective field, charges of the same magnitude and opposite sign are created on these surfaces. In such a capacitor, the electric field is concentrated in the space between the plate surfaces. In the case of a magnetic field, currents of the opposite direction are passed through the surfaces, and the ratio of current strengths is selected so as to minimize the value of the residual field outside. The desired shape of the surfaces in this case is toroidal, to ensure continuous protection. Under the influence of the Lorentz force, charged particles will move along deflecting curved trajectories or closed orbits between surfaces. It is possible to simultaneously apply electric and magnetic fields between surfaces. In this case, a suitable material can be placed in the space between the surfaces to absorb charged particles: for example, liquid hydrogen, water or polyethylene. The technical result of the invention is aimed at creating reliable, continuous (geometrically continuous) protection from cosmic radiation, simplifying the design of protective equipment and reducing energy costs for maintaining the protective field.
Providing heat patent №2148540
Patent holderOpen Joint Stock Company "Rocket and Space Corporation "Energia" named after S.P. Korolev"
Thermal control system of a spacecraft and orbital station, containing closed cooling and heating circuits connected through at least one intermediate liquid-liquid heat exchanger, control and measurement systems, valve-distribution and drainage-filling fittings, while the heating circuit contains a circulation stimulator , gas-liquid and coil heat exchangers and thermal plates, and in the cooling circuit, at least one circulation stimulator, a liquid flow regulator, one output of which is connected through the first check valve to the inlet of the coolant flow mixer, and the other through the second check valve to the inlet radiation heat exchanger, the output of which is connected to the second input of the flow mixer, the output of the flow mixer is connected by a connecting pipeline to the heat-receiving cavity of the intermediate liquid-liquid heat exchanger, the output of which is connected to the circulation stimulator, temperature sensors are installed on the connecting pipeline, electrically connected through a control system to the flow regulator liquid, characterized in that two electric pump units are additionally introduced into the cooling circuit, and the input of the first electric pump unit is connected through a filter to the coolant outlet from the heat receiving cavity of the intermediate liquid-liquid heat exchanger, and its output is connected to the second check valve and in parallel, through a filter to the input a second electric pump unit, the output of which is connected to the first check valve, each electric pump unit is equipped with a differential pressure sensor, and an additional temperature sensor is installed on the pipeline connecting the output of the flow mixer with the heat receiving cavity of the liquid-liquid heat exchanger, electrically connected through the control system to the first electric pump unit.
Protection against foreign objects
There are many ways to protect against foreign bodies.
Use non-standard motors, such as an electromagnetic accelerator with variable specific impulse;
Wrap an asteroid in a reflective plastic solar sail using aluminum-coated PET film;
"Paint" or sprinkle an object with titanium dioxide (white) or carbon black (black) so that cause the Yarkovsky effect and change its trajectory;
Planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker proposed in 1996 release a cloud of steam in the path of an object to gently slow it down. Nick Zabo drew a similar concept in 1990, "aerodynamic braking of a comet": A comet or ice structure targets an asteroid, after which nuclear explosions vaporize the ice and form a temporary atmosphere in the path of the asteroid;
Attach heavy ballast to the asteroid in order to change its trajectory by shifting the center of gravity;
Use laser ablation;
Use a shock wave emitter;
Another “contactless” method was recently proposed by scientists C. Bombardelli and G. Pelez from the Technical University of Madrid. It offers use ion cannon with low divergence, aimed at the asteroid from a nearby ship. The kinetic energy transmitted through the ions reaching the asteroid's surface, as in the case of a gravity tug, will create a weak but constant force capable of deflecting the asteroid, and a lighter ship will be used.
Detonation of a nuclear device above, on or below the surface of an asteroid is a potential option for repelling the threat. The optimal explosion height depends on the composition and size of the object. In the event of a threat from a pile of debris, in order to avoid their dispersion, it is proposed to carry out a radiation implosion, that is, an explosion above the surface. During an explosion, the released energy in the form of neutrons and soft x-rays (which do not penetrate matter) is converted into heat when it reaches the surface of the object. Heat turns the substance of the object into an outburst, and it will go off the trajectory, following Newton's third law, the outburst will go in one direction, and the object in the opposite direction.
Electromagnetic catapult is an automatic system located on an asteroid that releases the substance of which it consists into space. Thus, it slowly shifts and loses mass. An electromagnetic catapult must operate as a low specific impulse system: using a lot of fuel but little energy.
The idea is that if you use asteroid material as fuel, the amount of fuel is not as important as the amount of energy, which will most likely be limited.
Another possible method is to place an electromagnetic catapult on the Moon, aiming it at a near-Earth object, in order to take advantage of the orbital speed of the natural satellite and its unlimited supply of “rock bullets”.
Conclusion.
After analyzing the information presented, it becomes clear that artificial gravity is a very real phenomenon that will have wide application in the space industry as soon as we overcome all the difficulties associated with this project.
I see space settlements in the form proposed by von Braun: torus-shaped worlds with optimal use of space and using advanced technologies to ensure long-term life activity, namely:
The rotation of the station will occur according to the principle that I described in the section Creating artificial gravity. But due to the fact that in addition to rotation there will be movement in space, it is advisable to install correction motors on the station.
Hydroponics
Plants do not need to be watered a lot. Much less water is used than when growing on the ground in a garden. Despite this, with the correct selection of minerals and components, the plants will not dry out or rot. This happens by getting enough oxygen.
The big advantage is that this method allows you to protect plants from many diseases and pests. The plants themselves will not absorb harmful substances from the soil.
Consequently, there will be maximum productivity, which will completely cover the needs of the station’s inhabitants.
Condensation of moisture from the air.
Purification of used water.
Processing of urine and solid waste.
Use of advanced technologies to meet the needs of the station:
Water regeneration
A cluster of nuclear reactors will be responsible for energy supply, which will be shielded according to patent no. 2406661 adapted to displace radioactive particles outside the station.
The task of creating space settlements is difficult, but doable. I hope that in the near future, due to the rapid development of science and technology, all the necessary prerequisites for the creation and development of space settlements based on artificial gravity will be fulfilled. My contribution to this necessary cause will be appreciated. The future of humanity lies in space exploration and the transition to a new, more promising, environmentally friendly round of the spiral of human development.
Applications
Appendix 1. Stanford torus
Appendix 2. Death Star, Elysium.
Appendix 3. Scheme of rotational motion.
Resultant forces in a first approximation (only interaction of magnets). As a result, the station performs a rotational movement. That's what we need.
Bibliography
ALYAKRINSKY. Man lives in space. Weightlessness: plus or minus?
Barrer, M. Rocket engines.
Dobrovolsky, M. Liquid rocket engines. Basics of design.
Dorofeev, A. Fundamentals of the theory of thermal rocket engines.
Matveev. Mechanics and theory of relativity: Textbook for university students.
Myakishev. Molecular physics and thermodynamics.
Myakishev. Physics. Mechanics.
Myakishev. Physics. Electrodynamics.
Russell, D. Hydroponics.
Sanko. Astronomical Dictionary.
Sivukhin. General physics course.
Feynman. Feynman lectures on gravity.
Tsiolkovsky. Proceedings on rocket technology.
Shileiko. In an ocean of energy.
Golubev I.R. and Novikov Yu.V. Environment and its protection
Zakhlebny A.N. Reading book on nature conservation
Zverev I. Nature conservation and environmental education of schoolchildren.
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Kiselev S.V. Demonstration of the greenhouse effect.
Internet resources:
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_page
http://www.roscosmos.ru
http://allpatents.ru
Place a person in space, away from the gravitational bonds of the earth's surface, and he will experience weightlessness. Although all the masses of the Universe will still exert a gravitational force on him, they will also attract any spacecraft the person is in, so he will float. And yet they showed us on TV that the crew of a certain spaceship quite successfully walks with their feet on the floor under any conditions. For this purpose, artificial gravity is used, created by installations on board a fantastic ship. How close is this to real science?
Captain Gabriel Lorca on the bridge of the Discovery during a mock battle with the Klingons. The entire crew is attracted by artificial gravity, and this is, as it were, already canon
Regarding gravity, Einstein's great discovery was the principle of equivalence: with uniform acceleration, the frame of reference is indistinguishable from the gravitational field. If you were on a rocket and couldn't see the universe through the window, you would have no idea what was happening: were you being pulled down by gravity, or was the rocket accelerating in a certain direction? This was the idea that led to the general theory of relativity. After 100 years, this is the most accurate description of gravity and acceleration that we know.
The identical behavior of a ball falling to the floor in a rocket (left) and on Earth (right) demonstrates Einstein's principle of equivalence
There's another trick, as Ethan Siegel writes, that we can use if we want: we can make the spaceship spin. Instead of linear acceleration (like the thrust of a rocket), centripetal acceleration can be made to work so that the person on board feels the outer body of the spacecraft pushing him towards the center. This technique was used in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and if your spaceship was big enough, the artificial gravity would be indistinguishable from real gravity.
There's just one thing. These three types of acceleration - gravitational, linear and rotational - are the only ones we can use to simulate the effects of gravity. And this is a huge problem for a spacecraft.
The 1969 concept of the station, which was supposed to be assembled in orbit from the completed stages of the Apollo program. The station was supposed to rotate on its central axis to create artificial gravity
Why? Because if you want to go to another star system, you'll need to speed up your ship to get there, and then slow it down once you arrive. If you cannot protect yourself from these accelerations, disaster awaits you. For example, to accelerate to full momentum in Star Trek, to a few percent of the speed of light, one would have to experience an acceleration of 4000 g. This is 100 times the acceleration, which begins to impede blood flow in the body.
The launch of the space shuttle Columbia in 1992 showed that acceleration occurs over a long period. The acceleration of the spacecraft will be many times higher, and the human body will not be able to cope with it
Unless you want to be weightless during a long journey - so as not to subject yourself to terrible biological wear and tear like muscle and bone loss - there must be a constant force on the body. For any other force this is quite easy to do. In electromagnetism, for example, one could place a crew in a conductive cabin and many external electric fields would simply disappear. It would be possible to place two parallel plates inside and create a constant electric field that pushes charges in a certain direction.
If only gravity worked the same way.
There is simply no such thing as a gravitational conductor, nor is it possible to protect yourself from gravitational force. It is impossible to create a uniform gravitational field in a region of space, for example, between two plates. Why? Because unlike the electrical force generated by positive and negative charges, there is only one type of gravitational charge, and that is mass-energy. The gravitational force always attracts, and there is no escape from it. You can only use three types of acceleration - gravitational, linear and rotational.
The vast majority of quarks and leptons in the Universe consist of matter, but each of them also has antiparticles made of antimatter, the gravitational masses of which have not been determined
The only way that artificial gravity could be created that would protect you from the effects of your ship's acceleration and provide you with constant "downward" thrust without acceleration would be if you unlocked negative gravity mass particles. All the particles and antiparticles we have found so far have positive mass, but these masses are inertial, meaning they can only be judged when the particle is created or accelerated. Inertial mass and gravitational mass are the same for all particles we know, but we have never tested our idea on antimatter or antiparticles.
Currently, experiments are being carried out in this area. The ALPHA experiment at CERN has created antihydrogen: a stable form of neutral antimatter, and is working to isolate it from all other particles. If the experiment is sensitive enough, we will be able to measure how an antiparticle enters a gravitational field. If it falls down, like ordinary matter, then it has a positive gravitational mass and can be used to build a gravitational conductor. If it falls upward in a gravitational field, it changes everything. Just one result, and artificial gravity could suddenly become possible.
The possibility of obtaining artificial gravity is incredibly attractive to us, but is based on the existence of negative gravitational mass. may be such a mass, but we have not proven this yet
If antimatter has negative gravitational mass, then by creating a field of normal matter and a ceiling of antimatter, we could create an artificial gravity field that would always pull you down. By creating a gravitationally conductive shell in the form of the hull of our spacecraft, we would protect the crew from the forces of ultra-fast acceleration that would otherwise be lethal. And best of all, people in space would no longer experience the negative physiological effects that plague astronauts today. But until we find a particle with negative gravitational mass, artificial gravity will be obtained only due to acceleration.