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Prospective : Nations around the world are increasingly thinking about our future in space, and not just about jaunts to the moon and back. Long-term settlements on the lunar surface and on Mars are very close at hand, but astronauts will have to contend with gravity — or lack thereof — before it becomes viable.
While many would appreciate the opportunity to feel the reduced gravitational effects of an environment like the Moon or Mars, to research has shown that it can negatively impact things like bone strength. We also don’t know what kind of impact gravity would play when giving birth in space, or how a child raised in a low-gravity environment would handle arriving on Earth.
The gravitational force of the Moon is about 16.6% of that of the Earth; on Mars, it’s 38% closer to what you experience here on Earth.
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To account for the differences, researchers and engineers from Kyoto University and Kajima Construction Co. offers an artificial gravity system to sustain space life for humanity. The residential installation would generate gravity using centrifugal forces.
The cylindrical architecture will be 100 meters wide and up to 400 meters high (328 feet wide and 1,312 feet wide). It will complete a full rotation once every 20 seconds and generate 1G of gravity where the radius is greatest, which is equivalent to what is experienced on Earth.
The team is also thinking about creating core biomes and even envisioning a high-speed interplanetary transport system that would allow passengers to travel between Earth, the Moon, and Mars.
Researchers still have plenty of time to hammer out the details and work out funding, given that they don’t expect colonization efforts to become a reality until the second half of the 21st century.
Image credit: Pixabay