Artificial attraction. Artificial gravity in Sci-Fi Looking for the truth

Problems with the vestibular system are not the only consequence of prolonged exposure to microgravity. Astronauts who spend more than a month on the ISS often suffer from sleep disturbances, slow cardiovascular function, and flatulence.

NASA recently completed an experiment in which scientists studied the genome of twin brothers: one of them spent almost a year on the ISS, the other made only short flights and spent most of the time on Earth. Long-term stay in space led to the fact that 7% of the DNA of the first astronaut changed forever - we are talking about genes associated with the immune system, bone formation, oxygen starvation and excess carbon dioxide in the body.

NASA compared twin astronauts to see how the human body changes in space

In microgravity conditions, a person will be forced to remain inactive: we are not talking about astronauts staying on the ISS, but about flights into deep space. To find out how such a regime would affect the health of astronauts, the European Space Agency (ESA) placed 14 volunteers in a bed tilted to the side of the head for 21 days. The experiment, which will test the latest methods of combating weightlessness - such as improved exercise and nutrition regimens - is planned to be jointly conducted by NASA and Roscosmos.

But if people decide to send ships to Mars or Venus, more extreme solutions will be needed - artificial gravity.

How gravity can exist in space

First of all, it is worth understanding that gravity exists everywhere - in some places it is weaker, in others it is stronger. And outer space is no exception.

The ISS and satellites are constantly under the influence of gravity: if an object is in orbit, it falls around the Earth, to put it simply. A similar effect occurs if you throw a ball forward - before it hits the ground, it will fly a little in the direction of the throw. If you throw the ball harder, it will fly further. If you are Superman, and the ball is a rocket engine, it will not fall to the ground, but will fly around it and continue to rotate, gradually entering orbit.

Microgravity assumes that the people inside the ship are not in the air - they fall from the ship, which in turn falls around the Earth.

Because gravity is the force of attraction between two masses, we stay on the surface of the Earth when we walk on it, rather than floating into the sky. In this case, the entire mass of the Earth attracts the mass of our bodies to its center.

When ships go into orbit, they float freely in outer space. They are still subject to the gravitational pull of the Earth, but the ship and the objects or passengers in it are subject to gravity in the same way. Existing devices are not massive enough to create a noticeable attraction, so people and objects in them do not stand on the floor, but “float” in the air.

How to create artificial gravity

Artificial gravity as such does not exist; in order to create it, a person needs to learn everything about natural gravity. In science fiction, there is the concept of simulating gravity: it allows the crew of spaceships to walk on the deck and objects to stand on it.

In theory, there are two ways to create simulated gravity, and neither of them has yet been used in real life. The first is the use of centripetal force to simulate gravity. The ship or station must be a wheel-like structure consisting of several constantly rotating segments.

According to this concept, the centripetal acceleration of the device, pushing the modules towards the center, will create a semblance of gravity or conditions similar to those on Earth. This concept was demonstrated in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and Christopher Nolan's Interstellar.

The concept of a device that creates centripetal acceleration to simulate gravity

The author of this project is considered to be the German rocket scientist and engineer Wernher von Braun, who led the development of the Saturn 5 rocket, which delivered the Apollo 11 crew and several other manned vehicles to the Moon.

As director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, von Braun popularized Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's idea of creating a toroidal space station based on a hub design reminiscent of a bicycle wheel. If the wheel rotates in space, then inertia and centrifugal force can create a kind of artificial gravity that pulls objects towards the outer circumference of the wheel. This will allow people and robots to walk on the floor, as on Earth, rather than float in the air, as on the ISS.

However, this method has significant drawbacks: the smaller the spacecraft, the faster it must rotate - this will lead to the emergence of the so-called Cornolis force, in which points located further from the center will be influenced more strongly by gravity than those closer to it . In other words, gravity will be stronger on the astronauts' heads than on their legs, which they won't like.

To avoid this effect, the size of the ship must be several times larger than the size of a football field - putting such a device into orbit will be extremely expensive, given that the cost of one kilogram of cargo during commercial launches varies from $1.5 thousand to $3 thousand.

Another method of creating a gravity simulation is more practical, but also extremely expensive - we are talking about the acceleration method. If the ship first accelerates on a certain segment of the path, and then turns around and begins to slow down, then the effect of artificial gravity will arise.

To implement this method, enormous reserves of fuel will be required - the fact is that the engines must operate almost continuously, with the exception of a short break in the middle of the journey - during the turn of the ship.

Real examples

Despite the high cost of launching gravity-simulating spacecraft, companies around the world are trying to build such ships and stations.

The Gateway Foundation, a research foundation that plans to build a rotating station in Earth orbit, is trying to implement Von Braun’s concept. It is assumed that capsules will be located around the circumference of the wheel, which can be purchased by public and private aerospace companies for research. Some capsules will be sold as villas to the world's wealthiest residents, while others will be used as hotels for space tourists. unveiled the concept of a rotating spacecraft with inflatable modules, the Nautilus-X, which would reduce the effects of microgravity on the scientists on board.

It was assumed that the project would cost only $3.7 billion - very little for such devices - and would take 64 months to build. However, Nautilus-X never moved beyond the initial drawings and proposals.

Conclusion

For now, the most likely way to obtain a simulated gravity that will protect the ship from the effects of acceleration and provide constant gravity without the need to constantly use engines is to detect a particle with negative mass. Every particle and antiparticle that scientists have ever discovered has positive mass. It is known that negative mass and gravitational mass are equal to each other, but so far researchers have not been able to demonstrate this knowledge in practice.

Researchers at the ALPHA experiment at CERN have already created antihydrogen - a stable form of neutral antimatter - and are working to isolate it from all other particles at very low speeds. If scientists manage to do this, it is likely that in the near future artificial gravity will become more real than it is now.

Long-term space flights, the exploration of other planets, what science fiction writers Isaac Asimov, Stanislav Lem, Alexander Belyaev and others previously wrote about, will become a completely possible reality thanks to knowledge. Since by recreating the earth's level of gravity, we will be able to avoid the negative consequences of microgravity (weightlessness) for humans (muscle atrophy, sensory, motor and autonomic disorders). That is, almost anyone who wants to can go to space, regardless of the physical characteristics of their body. At the same time, your stay on board the spacecraft will become more comfortable. People will be able to use existing devices and facilities that are familiar to them (for example, a shower, a toilet).

On Earth, the level of gravity is determined by the acceleration of gravity, on average equal to 9.81 m/s 2 (“overload” 1 g), while in space, in conditions of weightlessness, approximately 10 -6 g. K.E. Tsiolkovsky cited analogies between the sensation of body weight when immersed in water or lying in bed with the state of weightlessness in space.

“The earth is the cradle of the mind, but you cannot live forever in the cradle.”
“The world should be even simpler.”
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

Interestingly, for gravitational biology, the ability to create different gravitational conditions will be a real breakthrough. It will be possible to study: how the structure, functions at the micro and macro levels change, patterns under gravitational influences of different magnitudes and directions. These discoveries, in turn, will help develop a fairly new direction - gravitational therapy. The possibility and effectiveness of using changes in gravity (increased compared to Earth's) for treatment is being considered. We feel an increase in gravity, as if the body has become a little heavier. Today, research is being conducted on the use of gravity therapy for hypertension, as well as for the restoration of bone tissue in fractures.

(artificial gravity) in most cases are based on the principle of equivalence of the forces of inertia and gravity. The principle of equivalence says that we feel approximately the same acceleration of movement without distinguishing the cause that caused it: gravity or inertial forces. In the first version, acceleration occurs due to the influence of the gravitational field, in the second, due to the acceleration of the movement of the non-inertial reference system (a system that moves with acceleration) in which the person is located. For example, a similar effect of inertial forces is experienced by a person in an elevator (non-inertial frame of reference) during a sharp rise up (with acceleration, a feeling as if the body has become heavier for a few seconds) or braking (the feeling that the floor is moving away from under one’s feet). From the point of view of physics: when the elevator rises upward, the acceleration of the movement of the cabin is added to the acceleration of free fall in a non-inertial system. When uniform movement is restored, the “gain” in weight disappears, that is, the usual feeling of body weight returns.

Today, like almost 50 years ago, centrifuges are used to create artificial gravity (centrifugal acceleration is used when rotating space systems). Simply put, during the rotation of the space station around its axis, centrifugal acceleration will occur, which will “push” a person away from the center of rotation and as a result, the astronaut or other objects will be able to be on the “floor”. To better understand this process and what difficulties scientists face, let's look at the formula that determines the centrifugal force when rotating a centrifuge:

F=m*v 2 *r, where m is mass, v is linear speed, r is distance from the center of rotation.

Linear speed is equal to: v=2π*rT, where T is the number of revolutions per second, π ≈3.14…

That is, the faster the spacecraft rotates, and the farther from the center the astronaut is, the stronger the artificial gravity created will be.

Having carefully looked at the figure, we can notice that with a small radius, the force of gravity for a person’s head and legs will be significantly different, which in turn will make movement difficult.

When the astronaut moves in the direction of rotation, the Coriolis force arises. In this case, there is a high probability that the person will constantly get motion sickness. This can be circumvented if the ship rotates at a rotation frequency of 2 revolutions per minute, which creates an artificial gravity force of 1g (as on Earth). But the radius will be 224 meters (approximately ¼ kilometer, this distance is similar to the height of a 95-story building or the length of two large redwood trees). That is, theoretically it is possible to build an orbital station or a spacecraft of this size. But in practice, this requires significant expenditure of resources, effort and time, which, in the context of approaching global cataclysms (see report ) more humanely direct to real help to those in need.

Due to the impossibility of recreating the required level of gravity for a person on an orbital station or spacecraft, scientists decided to study the possibility of “lowering the set bar,” that is, creating a gravity force less than that on Earth. Which suggests that over half a century of research it has not been possible to obtain satisfactory results. This is not surprising since in experiments they strive to create conditions under which the force of inertia or others would have an effect similar to the effect of gravity on Earth. That is, it turns out that artificial gravity, in fact, is not gravity.

Today in science there are only theories about what gravity is, most of which are based on the theory of relativity. Moreover, not one of them is complete (does not explain the course, the results of any experiments under any conditions, and besides, sometimes it is not consistent with other physical theories confirmed experimentally). There is no clear knowledge and understanding: what gravity is, how gravity is related to space and time, what particles it consists of and what their properties are. Answers to these and many other questions can be found by comparing the information presented in the book “Ezoosmos” by A. Novykh and the report PRIMORDIAL ALLATRA PHYSICS. offers a completely new approach that is based on basic knowledge of the primary principles of physics fundamental particles, patterns of their interaction. That is, based on a deep understanding of the essence of the gravitation process and, as a consequence, the possibility of accurate calculations for recreating any values of gravitational conditions both in space and on Earth (gravitational therapy), predicting the results of conceivable and inconceivable experiments carried out by both man and nature.

PRIMORDIAL ALLATRA PHYSICS is much more than just physics. It opens up possible solutions to problems of any complexity. But most importantly, thanks to knowledge of the processes occurring at the level of particles and real actions, each person can understand the meaning of his life, understand how the system works and gain practical experience in contact with the spiritual world. To realize the globality and primacy of the Spiritual, to get out of the framework/template limitations of consciousness, beyond the limits of the system, to find True Freedom.

“As they say, when you have universal keys in your hands (knowledge about the basics of elementary particles), you can open any door (of the micro- and macroworld).”

“Under such conditions, a qualitatively new transition of civilization into the mainstream of spiritual self-development, large-scale scientific knowledge of the world and oneself is possible.”

“Everything that oppresses a person in this world, from obsessive thoughts, aggressive emotions and ending with the stereotyped desires of an egoistic consumer ‒ this is the result of a person’s choice in favor of the septon field‒ a material intelligent system that routinely exploits humanity. But if a person follows the choice of his spiritual beginning, then he acquires immortality. And there is no religion in this, but there is knowledge of physics, its primordial foundations.”

Elena Fedorova

B.V. Rauschenbach, Korolev's comrade-in-arms, talked about how he came up with the idea of creating artificial gravity on a spaceship: at the end of the winter of 1963, the chief designer, who was clearing the path of snow near his house on Ostankinskaya Street, had an epiphany, one might say. Without waiting for Monday, he called Rauschenbach, who lived nearby, and soon together they began to “clear the way” into space for long flights.
The idea, as often happens, turned out to be simple; it must be simple, otherwise nothing may work out in practice.

To complete the picture. March 1966, Americans on Gemini 11:

At 11:29 a.m., Gemini 11 undocked from Agena. Now the fun begins: how will two objects connected by a cable behave? At first, Conrad tried to introduce the link into gravitational stabilization - so that the rocket would hang below, the ship above and the cable would be taut.
However, it was not possible to move 30 m away without causing strong vibrations. At 11:55 we moved on to the second part of the experiment - “artificial gravity”. Conrad introduced the ligament into rotation; At first the cable stretched along a curved line, but after 20 minutes it straightened out and the rotation became quite correct. Conrad increased his speed to 38 °/min, and after dinner to 55 °/min, creating a heaviness of 0.00078 g. You couldn’t feel it “to the touch,” but the things slowly settled to the bottom of the capsule. At 14:42, after three hours of rotation, the pin was shot off, and Gemini moved away from the rocket.

Even a person who is not interested in space has at least once seen a film about space travel or read about such things in books. In almost all such works, people walk around the ship, sleep normally, and do not have problems eating. This means that these - fictional - ships have artificial gravity. Most viewers perceive this as something completely natural, but this is not at all the case.

Artificial gravity

This is the name for changing (in any direction) the gravity that is familiar to us through the use of various methods. And this is done not only in science fiction works, but also in very real earthly situations, most often for experiments.

In theory, creating artificial gravity doesn't look that difficult. For example, it can be recreated using inertia, or more precisely, the need for this force did not arise yesterday - it happened immediately, as soon as a person began to dream of long-term space flights. Creating artificial gravity in space will make it possible to avoid many of the problems that arise during prolonged periods of weightlessness. Astronauts' muscles weaken and bones become less strong. Traveling in such conditions for months can cause atrophy of some muscles.

Thus, today the creation of artificial gravity is a task of paramount importance; without this skill it is simply impossible.

Materiel

Even those who know physics only at the school curriculum level understand that gravity is one of the fundamental laws of our world: all bodies interact with each other, experiencing mutual attraction/repulsion. The larger the body, the higher its gravitational force.

The Earth for our reality is a very massive object. That is why all the bodies around her, without exception, are attracted to her.

For us, this means, which is usually measured in g, equal to 9.8 meters per square second. This means that if we had no support under our feet, we would fall at a speed that increases by 9.8 meters every second.

Thus, only thanks to gravity we are able to stand, fall, eat and drink normally, understand where is up and where is down. If gravity disappears, we will find ourselves in weightlessness.

Cosmonauts who find themselves in space in a state of soaring—free fall—are especially familiar with this phenomenon.

Theoretically, scientists know how to create artificial gravity. There are several methods.

Large mass

The most logical option is to make it so large that artificial gravity appears on it. You will be able to feel comfortable on the ship, since orientation in space will not be lost.

Unfortunately, this method is unrealistic with modern technology development. To build such an object requires too many resources. In addition, lifting it would require an incredible amount of energy.

Acceleration

It would seem that if you want to achieve a g equal to that on Earth, you just need to give the ship a flat (platform-like) shape and make it move perpendicular to the plane with the required acceleration. In this way, artificial gravity will be obtained, and ideal gravity at that.

However, in reality everything is much more complicated.

First of all, it is worth considering the fuel issue. In order for the station to constantly accelerate, it is necessary to have an uninterruptible power supply. Even if an engine suddenly appears that does not eject matter, the law of conservation of energy will remain in force.

The second problem is the very idea of constant acceleration. According to our knowledge and physical laws, it is impossible to accelerate indefinitely.

In addition, such a vehicle is not suitable for research missions, since it must constantly accelerate - fly. He will not be able to stop to study the planet, he will not even be able to fly around it slowly - he must accelerate.

Thus, it becomes clear that such artificial gravity is not yet available to us.

Carousel

Everyone knows how the rotation of a carousel affects the body. Therefore, an artificial gravity device based on this principle seems to be the most realistic.

Everything that is within the diameter of the carousel tends to fall out of it at a speed approximately equal to the speed of rotation. It turns out that the bodies are acted upon by a force directed along the radius of the rotating object. It's very similar to gravity.

So, a ship with a cylindrical shape is required. At the same time, it must rotate around its axis. By the way, artificial gravity on a spaceship, created according to this principle, is often demonstrated in science fiction films.

A barrel-shaped ship, rotating around its longitudinal axis, creates a centrifugal force, the direction of which corresponds to the radius of the object. To calculate the resulting acceleration, you need to divide the force by the mass.

In this formula, the result of the calculation is acceleration, the first variable is the nodal speed (measured in radians per second), the second is the radius.

According to this, to obtain the g we are accustomed to, it is necessary to correctly combine the radius of space transport.

A similar problem is highlighted in films such as Intersolah, Babylon 5, 2001: A Space Odyssey and the like. In all these cases, artificial gravity is close to the earth's acceleration due to gravity.

No matter how good the idea is, it is quite difficult to implement it.

Problems with the carousel method

The most obvious problem is highlighted in A Space Odyssey. The radius of the “space carrier” is about 8 meters. In order to get an acceleration of 9.8, the rotation must occur at a speed of approximately 10.5 revolutions every minute.

At these values, the “Coriolis effect” appears, which consists in the fact that different forces act at different distances from the floor. It directly depends on the angular velocity.

It turns out that artificial gravity will be created in space, but rotating the body too quickly will lead to problems with the inner ear. This, in turn, causes balance disorders, problems with the vestibular apparatus and other - similar - difficulties.

The emergence of this obstacle suggests that such a model is extremely unsuccessful.

You can try to go from the opposite, as they did in the novel “The Ring World”. Here the ship is made in the shape of a ring, the radius of which is close to the radius of our orbit (about 150 million km). At this size, its rotation speed is sufficient to ignore the Coriolis effect.

You might assume that the problem has been solved, but this is not the case at all. The fact is that a full revolution of this structure around its axis takes 9 days. This suggests that the loads will be too great. In order for the structure to withstand them, a very strong material is needed, which we do not have at our disposal today. In addition, the problem is the amount of material and the construction process itself.

In games of similar themes, as in the film “Babylon 5”, these problems are somehow solved: the rotation speed is quite sufficient, the Coriolis effect is not significant, hypothetically it is possible to create such a ship.

However, even such worlds have a drawback. Its name is angular momentum.

The ship, rotating around its axis, turns into a huge gyroscope. As you know, it is extremely difficult to force a gyroscope to deviate from its axis due to the fact that it is important that its quantity does not leave the system. This means that it will be very difficult to give direction to this object. However, this problem can be solved.

Solution

Artificial gravity on the space station becomes available when the O'Neill Cylinder comes to the rescue. To create this design, identical cylindrical ships are needed, which are connected along the axis. They should rotate in different directions. The result of such an assembly is zero angular momentum, so there should be no difficulty in giving the ship the required direction.

If it is possible to make a ship with a radius of about 500 meters, then it will work exactly as it should. At the same time, artificial gravity in space will be quite comfortable and suitable for long flights on ships or research stations.

Space Engineers

The creators of the game know how to create artificial gravity. However, in this fantasy world, gravity is not the mutual attraction of bodies, but a linear force designed to accelerate objects in a given direction. The attraction here is not absolute; it changes when the source is redirected.

Artificial gravity on the space station is created by using a special generator. It is uniform and equidirectional in the range of the generator. So, in the real world, if you got under a ship with a generator installed, you would be pulled towards the hull. However, in the game the hero will fall until he leaves the perimeter of the device.

Today, artificial gravity in space created by such a device is inaccessible to humanity. However, even gray-haired developers do not stop dreaming about it.

Spherical generator

This is a more realistic equipment option. When installed, gravity is directed towards the generator. This makes it possible to create a station whose gravity will be equal to the planetary one.

Centrifuge

Today, artificial gravity on Earth is found in various devices. They are based, for the most part, on inertia, since this force is felt by us in a similar way to gravitational influence - the body does not distinguish what cause causes acceleration. As an example: a person going up in an elevator experiences the influence of inertia. Through the eyes of a physicist: the rise of the elevator adds the acceleration of the cabin to the acceleration of free fall. When the cabin returns to measured movement, the “gain” in weight disappears, returning the usual sensations.

Scientists have long been interested in artificial gravity. A centrifuge is most often used for these purposes. This method is suitable not only for spacecraft, but also for ground stations where it is necessary to study the effects of gravity on the human body.

Study on Earth, apply in...

Although the study of gravity began in space, it is a very terrestrial science. Even today, advances in this area have found their application, for example, in medicine. Knowing whether it is possible to create artificial gravity on a planet, it can be used to treat problems with the musculoskeletal system or the nervous system. Moreover, the study of this force is carried out primarily on Earth. This makes it possible for astronauts to conduct experiments while remaining under the close attention of doctors. Artificial gravity in space is another matter; there are no people there who can help the astronauts in the event of an unforeseen situation.

Bearing in mind complete weightlessness, one cannot take into account a satellite located in low-Earth orbit. These objects, albeit to a small extent, are affected by gravity. The force of gravity generated in such cases is called microgravity. Real gravity is experienced only in a vehicle flying at a constant speed in outer space. However, the human body does not feel this difference.

You can experience weightlessness during a long jump (before the canopy opens) or during a parabolic descent of the aircraft. Such experiments are often carried out in the USA, but on an airplane this sensation lasts only 40 seconds - this is too short for a full study.

In the USSR, back in 1973, they knew whether it was possible to create artificial gravity. And they not only created it, but also changed it in some way. A striking example of an artificial reduction in gravity is dry immersion, immersion. To achieve the desired effect, you need to place a thick film on the surface of the water. The person is placed on top of it. Under the weight of the body, the body sinks under water, leaving only the head at the top. This model demonstrates the support-free, low-gravity environment that characterizes the ocean.

There is no need to go into space to experience the opposite force of weightlessness - hypergravity. When a spacecraft takes off and lands in a centrifuge, the overload can not only be felt, but also studied.

Gravity treatment

Gravitational physics also studies the effects of weightlessness on the human body, trying to minimize the consequences. However, a large number of achievements of this science can also be useful to ordinary inhabitants of the planet.

Doctors place great hopes on research into the behavior of muscle enzymes in myopathy. This is a serious disease leading to early death.

During active physical exercise, a large volume of the enzyme creatine phosphokinase enters the blood of a healthy person. The reason for this phenomenon is unclear; perhaps the load acts on the cell membrane in such a way that it becomes “holey.” Patients with myopathy get the same effect without exercise. Observations of astronauts show that in weightlessness the flow of active enzyme into the blood is significantly reduced. This discovery suggests that the use of immersion will reduce the negative impact of factors leading to myopathy. Experiments on animals are currently being carried out.

Treatment of some diseases is already carried out using data obtained from the study of gravity, including artificial gravity. For example, treatment of cerebral palsy, strokes, and Parkinson's is carried out through the use of stress suits. Research into the positive effects of the support, the pneumatic shoe, has almost been completed.

Will we fly to Mars?

The latest achievements of astronauts give hope for the reality of the project. There is experience in providing medical support to a person during a long stay away from Earth. Research flights to the Moon, whose gravitational force is 6 times less than our own, have also brought a lot of benefits. Now astronauts and scientists are setting themselves a new goal - Mars.

Before queuing up for a ticket to the Red Planet, you should know what awaits the body already at the first stage of work - on the way. On average, the road to the desert planet will take a year and a half - about 500 days. Along the way you will have to rely only on your own strength; there is simply nowhere to wait for help.

Many factors will undermine your strength: stress, radiation, lack of a magnetic field. The most important test for the body is a change in gravity. During the journey, a person will become “acquainted” with several levels of gravity. First of all, these are overloads during takeoff. Then - weightlessness during the flight. After this - hypogravity at the destination, since the gravity on Mars is less than 40% of the Earth's.

How do you cope with the negative effects of weightlessness on a long flight? It is hoped that developments in the field of artificial gravity will help solve this issue in the near future. Experiments on rats traveling on Cosmos 936 show that this technique does not solve all problems.

OS experience has shown that the use of training complexes that can determine the required load for each astronaut individually can bring much greater benefits to the body.

For now, it is believed that not only researchers will fly to Mars, but also tourists who want to establish a colony on the Red Planet. For them, at least for the first time, the sensations of being in weightlessness will outweigh all the arguments of doctors about the dangers of prolonged stay in such conditions. However, in a few weeks they will also need help, which is why it is so important to be able to find a way to create artificial gravity on the spaceship.

Results

What conclusions can be drawn about the creation of artificial gravity in space?

Among all the options currently being considered, the rotating structure looks the most realistic. However, with the current understanding of physical laws, this is impossible, since the ship is not a hollow cylinder. There are overlaps inside that interfere with the implementation of ideas.

In addition, the radius of the ship must be so large that the Coriolis effect does not have a significant effect.

To control something like this, you need the O'Neill cylinder mentioned above, which will give you the ability to control the ship. In this case, the chances of using such a design for interplanetary flights while providing the crew with a comfortable level of gravity are increased.

Before humanity succeeds in making its dreams come true, I would like to see a little more realism and even more knowledge of the laws of physics in science fiction works.

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Goals and objectives of the study

The purpose of my research work is to consider such a fundamental interaction as gravity, its phenomena and the problem of space settlements with artificial gravity, to consider the features of using various types of engines to create artificial gravity, to develop ideas about life in space in conditions of artificial gravity and to solve problems arising when the creation of this project, the integration of patents of advanced technologies to solve the problems of artificial gravity.

The relevance of research.

Space settlements are a type of space station where a person could live for an extended period of time or even a lifetime. To create such settlements, you need to think through all the necessary conditions for optimal life activity - a life support system, artificial gravity, protection from space influences, etc. And although it is quite difficult to implement all the conditions, a number of science fiction writers and engineers have already created several projects that, perhaps, will create amazing space settlements in the future.

Significance and novelty of the research.

Artificial gravity is a promising area for research, because it will provide long-term stay in space and the possibility of long-distance space flights. The construction of space settlements could provide funds for further exploration; If we launch a space tourism program, which will be a very expensive pleasure, space corporations will receive an additional stream of funding, and research can be carried out in all directions, without being limited by possibilities.

Gravity. Gravitational phenomena. Gravity.

Gravity is one of the four types of fundamental interactions, or in other words - such an attractive force directed towards the center of mass of any object and to the center of mass of a cluster of objects; the greater the mass, the higher the gravity. As you move away from an object, the force of attraction towards it tends to zero, but under ideal conditions it never disappears at all. That is, if we imagine an absolute vacuum without a single extra particle of any origin, then in this space any objects that have even an infinitesimal mass, in the absence of any other external forces, will be attracted to each other at any infinitely distant distance.

At low speeds, gravity is described by Newtonian mechanics. And at speeds comparable to the speed of light, gravitational phenomena are described by SRT

A. Einstein.

Within the framework of Newtonian mechanics, gravity is described by the law of universal gravitation, which states that two point (or spherical) bodies are attracted to each other with a force directly proportional to the product of the masses of these bodies, inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them and acting along the straight line connecting these bodies.

In the high-velocity approximation, gravity is explained by special relativity, which has two postulates:

Einstein's principle of relativity, which states that natural phenomena occur equally in all inertial frames of reference.

The principle of constancy of the speed of light, which states that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant (contradicts the law of addition of speeds).

To describe gravity, a special extension of the theory of relativity has been developed, which allows for the curvature of space-time. However, dynamics even within the framework of STR can include gravitational interaction, as long as the gravitational field potential is much smaller. It should also be noted that STR ceases to work on the scale of the entire Universe, requiring replacement by GTR.

Gravitational phenomena.

The most striking gravitational phenomenon is attraction. There is also another phenomenon associated with gravity - weightlessness.

Thanks to gravitational forces, we walk on the earth, and our planet exists, like the entire Universe. But what happens if we leave the planet? We will experience one of the brightest gravitational phenomena - weightlessness. Weightlessness is a state of the body in which no forces other than gravitational forces act on it, or these forces are compensated.

Astronauts staying on the ISS are in a state of weightlessness, which negatively affects their health. When transitioning from the conditions of earth's gravity to conditions of weightlessness (primarily, when a spacecraft enters orbit), most astronauts experience an organism reaction called space adaptation syndrome. When a person stays in space for a long time (more than a week), the lack of gravity begins to cause certain changes in the body that are negative. The first and most obvious consequence of weightlessness is the rapid atrophy of muscles: the muscles are actually turned off from human activity, as a result all the physical characteristics of the body deteriorate. In addition, the consequence of a sharp decrease in the activity of muscle tissue is a reduction in the body's oxygen consumption, and due to the resulting excess hemoglobin, the activity of the bone marrow, which synthesizes it, may decrease. There is also reason to believe that limited mobility disrupts phosphorus metabolism in the bones, which leads to a decrease in their strength.

In order to get rid of the negative effects of weightlessness it is necessary to create artificial gravity in space.

Artificial gravity and space settlements. Early research of the 20th century.

Tsiolkovsky proposed the theory of etheric settlements, which were a torus that slowly rotates around its axis. But at that time such ideas were a utopia and all his projects remained in sketches.

The first developed project was proposed by the Austrian scientist Hermann Nordrung in 1928. It was also a torus-shaped station, including habitation modules, a power generator and an astronomical observatory module.

The next project was proposed by Wernher von Braun, a leading specialist in the American space program; it was also a torus-shaped station where people would live and work in rooms connected into one large corridor. Werner's project was one of NASA's priorities until the advent of the Skylab project in the 60s.

Skylab, the first and only US national orbital station, was intended for technological, astrophysical, medical and biological research, as well as for Earth observation. Launched on May 14, 1973, hosted three Apollo missions from May 1973 to February 1974, deorbited and collapsed on July 11, 1979.

Further, in 1965, the American Space Society suggested that the ideal shape for space settlements would be a torus, since all the modules are located together, the gravity force will have a maximum value. The problem of artificial gravity seemed largely solved.

The next project was put forward by Gerard O'Neill, he envisioned the creation of colonies, for which it is proposed to use two giant-sized cylinders, enclosed in a frame and rotating in different directions. These cylinders rotate around their own axis at a speed of about 0.53 revolutions per minute, due to which the force of gravity familiar to humans is created in the colony.

In 1975, Parker put forward a project to create a colony with a diameter of 100 m and a length of 1 km, located at a distance of about 400,000 km from the Earth and the Moon and designed for 10,000 people. Rotation around the longitudinal axis at a speed of 1 revolution per 21 seconds will create a gravity close to that of the Earth.

In 1977, NASA Ames Research Center researcher Richard Johnson and Professor Charles Holbrow of Colgate University published the paper Space Settlements, which looked at promising research into torus-shaped settlements.

In 1994, under the direction of Dr. Rodney Galloway, with the participation of scientists and laboratory scientists at Phillips Laboratory and Sandia Laboratories, as well as other research centers of the United States Air Force and the University of Arizona Space Research Center, a voluminous manual was compiled for the design of torus-shaped space settlements.

Modern research.

One of the modern projects in the field of space settlements is the Stanford Torus, which is a direct descendant of the ideas of Wernher von Braun.

The Stanford Torus was proposed to NASA during the summer of 1975 by Stanford University students to conceptualize the design of future space colonies. Gerard O'Neill later introduced his "Island One" or "Bernal Sphere" as an alternative to the torus. The "Stanford Torus", only in a more detailed version, representing the concept of a ring-shaped rotating space station, was presented by Wernher von Braun, as well as by the Slovenian-born Austrian engineer Hermann Potocnik.

It is a torus with a diameter of about 1.8 kilometers (for habitation of 10 thousand people, as described in the work of 1975) and rotates around its axis (revolutions per minute), creating an artificial gravity of 0.9 - 1 g on the ring due to centrifugal strength.

Sunlight enters through a system of mirrors. The ring is connected to the hub through “spokes” - corridors for the movement of people and goods to the axle and back. The hub, the axis of rotation of the station, is best suited for the docking station for receiving spacecraft, since artificial gravity is negligible here: there is a stationary module docked to the axis of the station.

The interior of the torus is habitable, large enough to create an artificial ecosystem, a natural environment, and inside is like a long, narrow glacial valley whose ends eventually curve upward to form a circle. The population lives here in conditions similar to a densely populated suburb, and inside the ring there are branches for farming and a residential part. (Annex 1)

Space settlements and artificial gravity in culture. Elysium

Ring worlds, such as those depicted in the sci-fi action movie Elysium or the video game Halo, are perhaps some of the most interesting ideas for future space stations. In Elysium, the station is close to Earth and, if you ignore its size, has a certain degree of realism. However, the biggest problem here is its “openness,” which is pure fantasy in appearance alone.

“Perhaps the most controversial issue about Elysium Station is its openness to the space environment.”

“The film shows how the spaceship simply lands on a lawn after arriving from outer space. There are no docking gates or anything like that. But such a station must be completely isolated from the external environment. Otherwise, the atmosphere here won't last long. Perhaps the open areas of the station could be protected by some kind of invisible field that would allow sunlight to penetrate inside and support life in the plants and trees planted there. But for now this is just fantasy. There are no such technologies."

The very idea of a station in the shape of rings is wonderful, but so far unrealizable.

Star Wars

Almost every science fiction movie fan knows what the Death Star is. This is such a large gray and round space station from the Star Wars movie epic, which looks very much like the Moon. This is an intergalactic planet destroyer, which is essentially itself an artificial planet made of steel and inhabited by stormtroopers.

Can we really build such an artificial planet and roam the expanses of the galaxy on it? In theory - yes. This alone will require an incredible amount of human and financial resources.

The issue of building the Death Star was even raised by the American White House, after the society sent a corresponding petition for consideration. The official response from the authorities was that $852,000,000,000,000,000 would be required for construction steel alone.

But even if the issue of finance were not a priority, then humanity does not have the technology to recreate the Death Star, since a huge amount of energy is needed to move it.

(Appendix 2)

Problems in implementing the space settlements project.

Space settlements are a promising direction in the space industry of the future, but as always there are difficulties that must be overcome to complete this task.

Initial capital costs;

Internal life support systems;

Creation of artificial gravity;

Protection from hostile external conditions:

from radiation;

providing heat;

from foreign objects;

Solving the problems of artificial gravity and space settlements.

Initial capital costs - this problem can be solved together if people put aside their personal ambitions and work for the greater good. After all, the future of humanity depends only on us.

Internal life support systems - already now on the ISS there are systems for reusing water, but this is not enough; provided there is enough space on the orbital station, you can find a place for a greenhouse in which plants that release maximum oxygen will grow; there is also the creation of hydroponic laboratories for growing GMOs that will be able to supply food to the entire population of the station.

Creating artificial gravity is not such a difficult task as delivering the huge amount of fuel needed to rotate the station.

1. There are several ways to solve the problem.
  1. 1. When it comes to comparing the efficiency of different types of engines, engineers usually talk about specific impulse. Specific impulse is defined as the change in impulse per unit mass of fuel consumed. Thus, the more efficient the engine, the less fuel is required to launch the rocket into space. Impulse, in turn, is the result of the action of a force over a certain time. Chemical rockets, although they have very high thrust, operate for only a few minutes and therefore have a very low specific impulse. Ion engines, capable of operating for years, can have high specific impulse with very low thrust.

Use a standard approach and apply jet engines to the problem. Calculations show that using any known jet engine would require enormous amounts of fuel to run the station for at least a year.

Specific impulse I (LPRE) = 4.6

Specific impulse I (solid propellant rocket engine) = 2.65

Specific impulse I (EP) = 10

Specific Impulse I (Plasma Engine) = 290

This is the fuel consumption for 1 year, therefore, it is unwise to use jet engines.

Let's consider an elementary case.

Let us have a carousel that is motionless. Then, if we fix n number of unipolar electromagnets along the edge of the carousel so that the force of their interaction is maximum, we get the following: if we turn on electromagnet No. 1 so that it acts on electromagnet No. 2 with a force x times greater than the second one acts on first, then according to Newton’s III law, the force of action of electromagnet No. 1 on No. 2 from the side of No. 2 will be compensated by the reaction force of the carousel support, which will bring the carousel out of rest. Now turn off No. 1, raise the strength of No. 2 to No. 1 and turn on No. 3 with a force equal to No. 2 at the previous stage, and if we continue this procedure, we will achieve rotation of the carousel. By applying this method to the space station, we will obtain a solution to the problem of artificial gravity.

(Appendix 3).

Protection from hostile environmental conditions

patent holder Alexey Gennadievich Rebeko

The invention relates to methods and means of protecting crew and equipment from ionizing radiation (charged high-energy particles) during space flights. According to the invention, a protective static electric or magnetic field is created around the spacecraft, which is localized in the space between two closed, non-contacting surfaces nested inside each other. The protected space of the spacecraft is limited by the inner surface, and the outer surface isolates the spacecraft and the protected space from interplanetary plasma. The shape of the surfaces can be arbitrary. When using an electric protective field, charges of the same magnitude and opposite sign are created on these surfaces. In such a capacitor, the electric field is concentrated in the space between the plate surfaces. In the case of a magnetic field, currents of the opposite direction are passed through the surfaces, and the ratio of current strengths is selected so as to minimize the value of the residual field outside. The desired shape of the surfaces in this case is toroidal, to ensure continuous protection. Under the influence of the Lorentz force, charged particles will move along deflecting curved trajectories or closed orbits between surfaces. It is possible to simultaneously apply electric and magnetic fields between surfaces. In this case, a suitable material can be placed in the space between the surfaces to absorb charged particles: for example, liquid hydrogen, water or polyethylene. The technical result of the invention is aimed at creating reliable, continuous (geometrically continuous) protection from cosmic radiation, simplifying the design of protective equipment and reducing energy costs for maintaining the protective field.

Patent holderOpen Joint Stock Company "Rocket and Space Corporation "Energia" named after S.P. Korolev"

Thermal control system of a spacecraft and orbital station, containing closed cooling and heating circuits connected through at least one intermediate liquid-liquid heat exchanger, control and measurement systems, valve-distribution and drainage-filling fittings, while the heating circuit contains a circulation stimulator , gas-liquid and coil heat exchangers and thermal plates, and in the cooling circuit, at least one circulation stimulator, a liquid flow regulator, one output of which is connected through the first check valve to the inlet of the coolant flow mixer, and the other through the second check valve to the inlet radiation heat exchanger, the output of which is connected to the second input of the flow mixer, the output of the flow mixer is connected by a connecting pipeline to the heat-receiving cavity of the intermediate liquid-liquid heat exchanger, the output of which is connected to the circulation stimulator, temperature sensors are installed on the connecting pipeline, electrically connected through a control system to the flow regulator liquid, characterized in that two electric pump units are additionally introduced into the cooling circuit, and the input of the first electric pump unit is connected through a filter to the coolant outlet from the heat receiving cavity of the intermediate liquid-liquid heat exchanger, and its output is connected to the second check valve and in parallel, through a filter to the input a second electric pump unit, the output of which is connected to the first check valve, each electric pump unit is equipped with a differential pressure sensor, and an additional temperature sensor is installed on the pipeline connecting the output of the flow mixer with the heat receiving cavity of the liquid-liquid heat exchanger, electrically connected through the control system to the first electric pump unit.

There are many ways to protect against foreign bodies.

Use non-standard motors, such as an electromagnetic accelerator with variable specific impulse;

Wrap an asteroid in a reflective plastic solar sail using aluminum-coated PET film;

"Paint" or sprinkle an object with titanium dioxide (white) or carbon black (black) so that cause the Yarkovsky effect and change its trajectory;

Planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker proposed in 1996 release a cloud of steam in the path of an object to gently slow it down. Nick Zabo drew a similar idea in 1990, "aerodynamic braking of a comet": A comet or ice structure targets an asteroid, after which nuclear explosions vaporize the ice and form a temporary atmosphere in the path of the asteroid;

Attach heavy ballast to the asteroid in order to change its trajectory by shifting the center of gravity;

Use laser ablation;

Use a shock wave emitter;

Another “contactless” method was recently proposed by scientists C. Bombardelli and G. Pelez from the Technical University of Madrid. It offers use ion cannon with low divergence, aimed at the asteroid from a nearby ship. The kinetic energy transmitted through the ions reaching the asteroid's surface, as in the case of a gravity tug, will create a weak but constant force capable of deflecting the asteroid, and a lighter ship will be used.

Detonation of a nuclear device above, on or below the surface of an asteroid is a potential option for repelling the threat. The optimal explosion height depends on the composition and size of the object. In the event of a threat from a pile of debris, in order to avoid their dispersion, it is proposed to carry out a radiation implosion, that is, an explosion above the surface. During an explosion, the released energy in the form of neutrons and soft x-rays (which do not penetrate matter) is converted into heat when it reaches the surface of the object. Heat turns the substance of the object into an outburst, and it will go off the trajectory, following Newton's third law, the outburst will go in one direction, and the object in the opposite direction.

Electromagnetic catapult is an automatic system located on an asteroid that releases the substance of which it consists into space. Thus, it slowly shifts and loses mass. An electromagnetic catapult must operate as a low specific impulse system: using a lot of fuel but little energy.

The idea is that if you use asteroid material as fuel, the amount of fuel is not as important as the amount of energy, which will most likely be limited.

Another possible method is to place an electromagnetic catapult on the Moon, aiming it at a near-Earth object, in order to take advantage of the orbital speed of the natural satellite and its unlimited supply of “rock bullets”.

Conclusion.

After analyzing the information presented, it becomes clear that artificial gravity is a very real phenomenon that will have wide application in the space industry as soon as we overcome all the difficulties associated with this project.

I see space settlements in the form proposed by von Braun: torus-shaped worlds with optimal use of space and using advanced technologies to ensure long-term life activity, namely:

Use of advanced technologies to meet the needs of the station:

Hydroponics
- Plants do not need to be watered a lot. Much less water is used than when growing on the ground in a garden. Despite this, with the correct selection of minerals and components, the plants will not dry out or rot. This happens by getting enough oxygen.
  
  The big advantage is that this method allows you to protect plants from many diseases and pests. The plants themselves will not absorb harmful substances from the soil.
  
  Consequently, there will be maximum productivity, which will completely cover the needs of the station’s inhabitants.

Water regeneration

Condensation of moisture from the air.

Purification of used water.

Processing of urine and solid waste.

A cluster of nuclear reactors will be responsible for energy supply, which will be shielded according to patent no. 2406661 adapted to displace radioactive particles outside the station.

The task of creating space settlements is difficult, but doable. I hope that in the near future, due to the rapid development of science and technology, all the necessary prerequisites for the creation and development of space settlements based on artificial gravity will be fulfilled. My contribution to this necessary cause will be appreciated. The future of humanity lies in space exploration and the transition to a new, more promising, environmentally friendly round of the spiral of human development.

Applications

Appendix 1. Stanford torus

Appendix 2. Death Star, Elysium.

Appendix 3. Scheme of rotational motion.

Resultant forces in a first approximation (only interaction of magnets). As a result, the station performs a rotational movement. That's what we need.

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Internet resources:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_page

http://www.roscosmos.ru

http://allpatents.ru