Full G on the Moon or other small bodies?

--- Jake wrote:

> regolith??? That's just junk.. Dusty stuff on the
> surface.. I have not
> heard of extracting oxygen from it... And I don't
> really understand
> how this would be possible...

That dusty stuff is Al2O3, among other compounds.

>
> As far as long term effects on earth born humans in
> 1/6g.. This seems
> pretty obvious.. As our bodies are developed to
> function in a full g..
> Studies have been done in 0g or near 0.. Especially
> by the Russians..
> They found long term effects to be harmful to the
> immune system, bone
> strength, muscle development, blood circulation,
> ect.. 1/6g would
> allow for much longer resistance to these problems,
> but not totally...
> Or at least it wouldn't seem so... I really couldn't
> see how it wouldn't..

It might. We don't know. Right now, we only have two
data points for adults (0g and 1g) and only a single
data point for human embryos, fetuses, and children
(1g).

Suppose that a female astronaut gets pregnant and
brings a child to term on the ISS; then we'd have
another data point at zero g. Suppose further that
there are some problems with the child's development.

If we could find a way to plot a child's general
health on a curve of gravity vs. health, we'd still be
left with only two data points. We wouldn't know if
the curve between them was a straight line, or if it
rose very steeply with just a minimal amount of
gravity, or if the curve stayed flat and then rose
steeply just below 1g. We'd need a third data point
in there at the very least in order for us to predict
what would be an acceptable gee load for the normal
development of children.

It may be that the optimal gee load is even greater
than one gee. Some experiments that the Russians did
on rats living in a centrifuge suggest that the rats
were healthier at higher gravity; if I recall
correctly they tested the rats at 2 gees for their
entire life spans.

>
> Yes.. Most Asteroids are further away in the kuiper
> belt, but we find
> stray ones all the time.. Sometimes we even call
> them meteors..
>

There are lots of asteroids in the solar system, some
of which come closer to the earth than the moon does
from time to time, and some of which require a lower
delta vee to reach than does the moon. Asteroid
mining is my personal preference too. Your mileage
may vary.

Ed