this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
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Maybe "2001 A Space Odyssey" had the right idea ... spinning a whole big station to produce 1G. (Arthur C. Clarke was part of the writing team.)
Discussion here sez it takes a radius of 224m at 2rpm: https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/281/what-would-the-size-and-rotation-of-a-station-need-to-be-to-produce-1g-gravity-f
At this site you can play with the parameters: https://www.artificial-gravity.com/sw/SpinCalc/
It frustrates me that nobody has attempted construction of a Coriolis station yet. They are so prolific throughout science fiction and theoretical scientific literature, and they have been prolific for ages.
Detractors of Coriolis stations will usually say that the scale required for the optimal 1G is not feasible, but the physics behind the idea are more or less sound.
We have the technology to build one, it’s just a matter of profitability. Nobody wants to burn their trillions on a moonshot.
224m radius from the previous comment equates to 1400m circumference. With a crossbrace of another 900m (assuming an X shape). And a bit of stuff in the middle to affix the solar collector arrays (which must be stationary).
For comparison, the ISS is 109m long.
We’d better get to work!
NASA's budget just got gutted by the anti science party.
Thanks for reminding me. :(