A team of engineers from Texas A&M University believes that humans should expand their reach into the cosmos by constructing suitable orbital habitats from scratch. To put that into effect, the aerospace engineers designed their orbital habitat. This habitat can hold up to 8,000 people and works on artificial gravity. According to the researchers, the habitat would be comfortable for humans and be livable for people every day rather than only the specially-trained astronauts.
The habitat was designed to create a gravitational pull as realistic as possible, as published by research in the journal Aerospace Science and Technology. This is a tricky feat for the concentric cylinder-shaped habitat, which creates a fine line between the realistic gravity and inducing motion sickness to the habitants. However, the Texas researchers aren’t the first ones to suggest rotating around one’s axis to generate gravity, but they indeed solved a common problem with the idea.
The researchers believed they’d found the correct radius of the planet around which it would need to rotate to ensure that a person’s head and feet wouldn’t experience different gravitational effects, which would otherwise create an appalling time in space. Along with gravity, the engineers also designed protective shields and rotating wheel space station for the inhabitants to protect them from deadly cosmic radiations.
As per the research paper, the new space habitat would be sealed off after creating an outer layer of water and rock five meters thick.
About Artificial Gravity
Artificial gravity is the simulated creation of an inertial force that mimics gravitational force. This force is usually created by rotation or spinning. In short, artificial gravity is the product of a centrifugal force, as opposed to the energy produced in linear acceleration. The artificially gravity in practice has been used in various simulations to help astronauts train for extreme conditions in space. This gravity has also been proposed as a solution for human spaceflight to the adverse health effects caused by prolonged weightlessness. Scientists are concerned about the impact of artificial gravity on the inner ear of the astronauts as the adverse effects may prove intolerable and hazardous to the occupants.
