Spinning [WAS] Island One, Two and Three

From: Xenophile [mailto:xenophile2002@...]

> Let's design the experiment that lets people be Human Space Guinea
> Pigs, and see what happens at full-G, but 5 rpm, or 4, or 3, or 2 or
> 1 rmp. Let's come up with something that NASA, the Russians, or even
> some non-governmental group could do to answer these questions.

Yes, I'd like to see that (I don't think the Mars Society is going to
get that spinning capsule with the mice up, which is a shame). I'd like
to see a system where we start out at a rotation rate producing 1/6th of
a G, and leave an astronaut there for 6 months or more. Then change
crew and increase rotation rate to 1/3rd of a G. Then a full 1 G. At
the same time we accumulate data on what long-term exposure to lunar and
Martian gravity levels would be like, we get data on increasing RPMs.
Should be all things to all people.

> It needs to be cheap (building a full-fledged habitat is out for
> now). It needs to be easy (no bucky nanotubes, diamondoid, etc.).
> It needs to be soon (no waiting for a new launch vehicle or those
> afore-mentioned nanotubes, etc.).

I once went through the mental exercise of trying to design the simplest
experiment one could perform. It was surprising how quickly the
complexity went up when you factor in power, life-support, heat
rejection, etc. It's hard to design a facility that's any less
complicated than a full-up multi-purpose space station facility.

Regards,

Mike Combs