Two Pods on a cable

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "ANTIcarrot"
wrote:

> Thing is it's been known for a very long time that the easiest way
to survive in space is to tether two pods together with 100m long
steel cable and spin them. There's no secret trick to it and the
construction presents no real problems, and the 'gravity' would
actually simplify many engineering problems, like life-support.
>
> Of course it would make micro gravity experiments difficult, but
then again, *astronauts* and life support do that. Strange how NASA
insists the two go together isn't?
>
..................................................
I wonder why the space station design is as it is. Spinning up two
pods tethered with cable seems a cool idea to me, but since it was
not done, there must be drawbacks too. If the cable were
(eventually) replaced with a large tube or truss, you could "climb"
up to the "Center for Microgravity Experiments".

Just this week I saw on television an inflatable kevlar habitat with
foam radiation protection inside... proposed as a safty module for
space station astronauts. The tube could (eventually) be filled with
these inflatable pods, creating a lot of redundancy (against leaks),
and a lot of design alternatives. I can imagine this thing that
looks like a giant "jacks" piece spinning space... rather than a
space station with no gravity.

I am sure there are problems with this approach, but it seems more
like a space habitat than the current space station or any other
proposal that is likely in the next 50 years. I am content to let
rovers explore mars for a long time.