Furnish A Luxury Space Liner... Safely and Comfortably

[Spacescifi]

So here is the scenario:

1g constant acceleration space liner (don't ask how won't matter for the scenario) that can accelerate virtually ibdefinitely.

1000 passengers, which includes 123 crew and support staff.

Totally safe from space radiation.

Has a payload cargo capacity of 3000 tons.

Cruise itinerary: Voyage from Earth to moon. Passengers get an optional moon walk. Visit mars. Optional mars walk. Visit Saturn, optional space 'walk' around the rings. Visit one of those watery ice moons around jupiter, optional sub trip underwater there. Come back to Earth.

So round trip the whole voyage may take 2 months or a little more at... depending on how long they stay at each stop.

 

The main question: How do you furnish INSIDE the cruise ship to make it as safe and as entertaining as possible so passengers will WANT to come and pay for this cruise?

When it is at 1g crew feels 1g, and ship decks are aligned in the direction of thrust so that down is toward the thrust.

Yet when ship manevers it cuts acceleration, during time passengers feel weightless as the RCS thrusters burn to position the ship for a new heading.

 

Here's how I would make ship safe inside:

1. Make floor metallic, have ALL passengers wear electromagnetic shoes that stick to floor ONLY when gravity cuts off. Before gravity cuts, a warning is given so that passengers find a secure harness, and cameras and crew watch to ensurw they do.

2. Literally pillow or matress cushion ALL the walls. Except the metallic floors.

3. No metal forks or knives or spoons for passengers. Instead a lot of finger foods you can eat with hands.

4. Only cook staff gets knives, and only cook DURING 1g acceleration.

5. Normal toilets and plumbing. Except some measures to ensure toilet won't slosh up during weightless manevering.

 

 

What can you think of for safety and entertainment for such a large group?

 

Edited July 14, 2020 by Spacescifi

[KSK]

I would start by planning to treat my passengers like adults.  No sharp objects, padded walls, bare metal floors, compulsory wearing of heavy shoes - this sounds more like a psychiatric hospital or a prison to me than a luxury travel experience.

A couple of ideas, assuming that the liner is big enough. General principles first.

• Use velcro rather than electromagnets. Soft floor furnishings that can be gripped with soft shoes sounds more relaxing that metal floors and magnetic shoes.
• Windows. Or, if your ship design really does preclude transparent areas in the hull, large flat-panel screens linked to external cameras that serve the same purpose. Being able to see outside is crucial to the experience. 
• Staff are there to help where necessary, not to watch and judge.
• Room design should be as normal as possible with due allowance made for safety. No padded walls but no exposed pipework either, or fancy chandeliers for people to get tangled up in.

More specific ideas assuming your ship is big enough.

• Have a dedicated restaurant or possibly even a food hall deck. Food to be served and eaten using the tableware that you would normally expect. Naturally it's only open when the ship is under steady thrust. Outside of the eating area, snacks are available from various places throughout the ship and/or as a complimentary service in passenger cabins. Those snacks of course are designed for consumption in zero-g and can be eaten at any time, anywhere.
• Make zero-g part of the experience for those that want it.
  • Have one or more lounge areas for passengers that really don't like zero-g. Have a couple of stewards on hand to discreetly help passengers who aren't quite used to maneuvering in freefall and get stuck in mid-air.
  • Have a couple of padded rooms for those who want a more active zero-g experience. Think of them as the space liner version of a bouncy castle or a space for zero-G sports activities.
  • Have a children's play area so their parents can enjoy some private cabin time in zero-g if they so wish. Actually, children's entertainment so that parents can get away from their little darlings for a while should be on the general principles list.
  • Build enough slack into the schedule so that transitions to and from zero-G can be handled with dignity.  Better yet, have some intermediate stages between 0g and 1g. Especially when transitioning from zero-g, this allows loose items to settle gently without suddenly falling out of mid air and bonking anyone on the head. Important for passengers, really important for cooking staff!
• If the liner is big enough and the engines are capable of throttling down to say 0.1g, have a literal flight deck. As in, a place where passengers can strap on wings and fly like a bird.

Edited July 14, 2020 by KSK

[Shpaget]

For Moon, at 1g you're looking at about a 4 hour flight, so just have the passengers sit in their seats.

BTW, is it called flight? It certainly isn't a drive. It's a spaceship, but sail also doesn't sound right. It can't be a whooosh, since in space, no one can hear you scream. I'm confused. We need more space terminology.

[WestAir]

7 minutes ago, Shpaget said:

For Moon, at 1g you're looking at about a 4 hour flight, so just have the passengers sit in their seats.

BTW, is it called flight? It certainly isn't a drive. It's a spaceship, but sail also doesn't sound right. It can't be a whooosh, since in space, no one can hear you scream. I'm confused. We need more space terminology.

Journey.

[Bill Phil]

I would design it like a luxury hotel - cause that’s what it is. Throw in a few extras to take into account free fall conditions and other unique aspects of space, and you got a solid design. 

2 hours ago, Shpaget said:

For Moon, at 1g you're looking at about a 4 hour flight, so just have the passengers sit in their seats.

BTW, is it called flight? It certainly isn't a drive. It's a spaceship, but sail also doesn't sound right. It can't be a whooosh, since in space, no one can hear you scream. I'm confused. We need more space terminology.

Flight works fine. I believe that was the terminology for airships back in the day, despite days long voyages.

Or just use voyage.

[Spacescifi]

8 hours ago, KSK said:

I would start by planning to treat my passengers like adults.  No sharp objects, padded walls, bare metal floors, compulsory wearing of heavy shoes - this sounds more like a psychiatric hospital or a prison to me than a luxury travel experience.

A couple of ideas, assuming that the liner is big enough. General principles first.

• Use velcro rather than electromagnets. Soft floor furnishings that can be gripped with soft shoes sounds more relaxing that metal floors and magnetic shoes.
• Windows. Or, if your ship design really does preclude transparent areas in the hull, large flat-panel screens linked to external cameras that serve the same purpose. Being able to see outside is crucial to the experience. 
• Staff are there to help where necessary, not to watch and judge.
• Room design should be as normal as possible with due allowance made for safety. No padded walls but no exposed pipework either, or fancy chandeliers for people to get tangled up in.

More specific ideas assuming your ship is big enough.

• Have a dedicated restaurant or possibly even a food hall deck. Food to be served and eaten using the tableware that you would normally expect. Naturally it's only open when the ship is under steady thrust. Outside of the eating area, snacks are available from various places throughout the ship and/or as a complimentary service in passenger cabins. Those snacks of course are designed for consumption in zero-g and can be eaten at any time, anywhere.
• Make zero-g part of the experience for those that want it.
  • Have one or more lounge areas for passengers that really don't like zero-g. Have a couple of stewards on hand to discreetly help passengers who aren't quite used to maneuvering in freefall and get stuck in mid-air.
  • Have a couple of padded rooms for those who want a more active zero-g experience. Think of them as the space liner version of a bouncy castle or a space for zero-G sports activities.
  • Have a children's play area so their parents can enjoy some private cabin time in zero-g if they so wish. Actually, children's entertainment so that parents can get away from their little darlings for a while should be on the general principles list.
  • Build enough slack into the schedule so that transitions to and from zero-G can be handled with dignity.  Better yet, have some intermediate stages between 0g and 1g. Especially when transitioning from zero-g, this allows loose items to settle gently without suddenly falling out of mid air and bonking anyone on the head. Important for passengers, really important for cooking staff!
• If the liner is big enough and the engines are capable of throttling down to say 0.1g, have a literal flight deck. As in, a place where passengers can strap on wings and fly like a bird.

 

Interesting.

My concerns were for the eyes

I would have all passengers have eyewear on them that they must wear during weigtlessness.

And carpeting the floor for velcro shoes sounds fine... but again... carpet collects particles which will build up over time and be a dusty mess in weightlessness.

 

Pillowing/matressing walls was so passengers won't injure durung weightlessness.

Giving forks and spoons makes it morw likely they might be weaponized in zero g.

Kids need helmets pkys eyewear un zero g.

[KSK]

1 hour ago, Spacescifi said:

Interesting.

My concerns were for the eyes

I would have all passengers have eyewear on them that they must wear during weigtlessness.

And carpeting the floor for velcro shoes sounds fine... but again... carpet collects particles which will build up over time and be a dusty mess in weightlessness.

Pillowing/matressing walls was so passengers won't injure durung weightlessness.

Giving forks and spoons makes it morw likely they might be weaponized in zero g.

Kids need helmets pkys eyewear un zero g.

How often do you see ISS astronauts wearing protective eyewear? Granted, they are trained astronauts but being tidy is hardly rocket science and the ISS is far more cluttered and cramped (so more things likely to go in said eyes) than I would expect a luxury space liner to be.

I get the concern but I would take a different approach.

For zero-g activity rooms where the idea is to be moving around, I would give passengers a locker to stow any small personal items in and have a dress code for that room which would basically boil down to tracksuits or sweatshirt-and-pants. No shoes, no belts, no zips or buttons or other loose fastenings. Not so very different to typical sportswear on Earth in other words, especially for contact sports, or sports like trampolining, where you really don't want to be wearing anything that might get caught on something or someone.

For lounge areas, I would provide areas to store loose items - think of the netting on the back of airline seats - and give passengers plenty of warning before zero-g so that they can drop things off at their cabins if need be. The space liner equivalent of the 'stowing personal items and returning your trays to their upright position' routine familiar to any present day air passenger. 

In both cases you adapt the familiar (and therefore acceptable and reasonable) rather than impose the new and overzealous.

Helmets are an interesting one. I can see arguments for and against them, depending on how they're designed. It's not much good having a helmet that protects its wearer at the expense of causing greater injury to anyone that they collide with, for example. 

Floor carpeting would be cleaned regularly  over a multi-month voyage so I don't see this as being a big problem. Besides, zero-g conditions will required some kind of forced ventilation anyway to keep air moving around the ship, so why not put the intake vents for that ventilation at floor level and make use of zero-G time to auto-vacuum the carpets?

Cushioning the walls - again I understand your point but as I said I think a better approach is to design your rooms to remove the obvious zero-G hazards, give passengers a means to anchor themselves to the floor and then provide specific areas for the more confident or adventurous passengers to zoom around without damaging themselves or others. No need for the super-cautious 'cover everything in quilting' approach. Also covering everything in quilting doesn't work if you're providing windows or viewscreens - which I sincerely hope a luxury space liner is.

In general people are sensible, especially in potentially dangerous environments. You don't see ocean going cruise liners draped with netting on the off-chance that somebody decides to climb the railings and jump off the side.

Weaponized forks and spoons? Come on - how often do you hear about passengers on cruise liners, or airliners for that matter, running amok with the cutlery? I suppose it's a hypothetical risk but I'd say it's a really small one. Not worth banning spoons and forks over in my opinion, particularly (as I've already said) if you only have them in a designated dining area, which is only open to the public when the ship is under thrust.

Edited July 14, 2020 by KSK

[Bill Phil]

I’d be much more worried about the captain doing something with his torch drive that would result in unforeseen consequences.

[Spacescifi]

5 hours ago, KSK said:

How often do you see ISS astronauts wearing protective eyewear? Granted, they are trained astronauts but being tidy is hardly rocket science and the ISS is far more cluttered and cramped (so more things likely to go in said eyes) than I would expect a luxury space liner to be.

I get the concern but I would take a different approach.

For zero-g activity rooms where the idea is to be moving around, I would give passengers a locker to stow any small personal items in and have a dress code for that room which would basically boil down to tracksuits or sweatshirt-and-pants. No shoes, no belts, no zips or buttons or other loose fastenings. Not so very different to typical sportswear on Earth in other words, especially for contact sports, or sports like trampolining, where you really don't want to be wearing anything that might get caught on something or someone.

For lounge areas, I would provide areas to store loose items - think of the netting on the back of airline seats - and give passengers plenty of warning before zero-g so that they can drop things off at their cabins if need be. The space liner equivalent of the 'stowing personal items and returning your trays to their upright position' routine familiar to any present day air passenger. 

In both cases you adapt the familiar (and therefore acceptable and reasonable) rather than impose the new and overzealous.

Helmets are an interesting one. I can see arguments for and against them, depending on how they're designed. It's not much good having a helmet that protects its wearer at the expense of causing greater injury to anyone that they collide with, for example. 

Floor carpeting would be cleaned regularly  over a multi-month voyage so I don't see this as being a big problem. Besides, zero-g conditions will required some kind of forced ventilation anyway to keep air moving around the ship, so why not put the intake vents for that ventilation at floor level and make use of zero-G time to auto-vacuum the carpets?

Cushioning the walls - again I understand your point but as I said I think a better approach is to design your rooms to remove the obvious zero-G hazards, give passengers a means to anchor themselves to the floor and then provide specific areas for the more confident or adventurous passengers to zoom around without damaging themselves or others. No need for the super-cautious 'cover everything in quilting' approach. Also covering everything in quilting doesn't work if you're providing windows or viewscreens - which I sincerely hope a luxury space liner is.

In general people are sensible, especially in potentially dangerous environments. You don't see ocean going cruise liners draped with netting on the off-chance that somebody decides to climb the railings and jump off the side.

Weaponized forks and spoons? Come on - how often do you hear about passengers on cruise liners, or airliners for that matter, running amok with the cutlery? I suppose it's a hypothetical risk but I'd say it's a really small one. Not worth banning spoons and forks over in my opinion, particularly (as I've already said) if you only have them in a designated dining area, which is only open to the public when the ship is under thrust.

 

How often do I see ISS crew wear protective eyewear?

Fun fact: Every time they enter a new module added to ISS they wear eyewear, since I read that they are protecting eyes from any spare metal shavings that were left during module construction.

Weaponized cutlery: Mostly concerned about people pocketing and later THROWING knives in zero g.

Windows: Unless the glass is made out of some synthetic material that holds a LOT of hydrogen and other radiation absorbent materials, we can forget windows. In fact, assuming we could make one that did flawlessly block/absorb radiation, I doubt it would be clear colored, might have a tint of red or pink or even yellow or blue.

 

While my ideas my seem... extreme, they would eliminate the potential for certain problems.

Would work well for spaceships where crew safety was the highest concern (warships, maybe freighters).

[Nuke]

i wonder if 2001 didn't hit the nail on the head with their use of velcro. metal floors are heavy and most metals used in spacecraft construction are either not magnetic (aluminium) or are weakly magnetic (titanium), assuming were not using ceramics or composites. maybe if you have torch drives you can put down a few hundred square feet of steal plating, but velcro on carbon fiber would weigh a lot less.

i also have a feeling people who would go on such a space cruise would want the astronaut experience. so unlike an ocean cruise which is mostly built around the perpetual binge eating of gourmet foods, gambling in the ship's casino, maybe catching a show or shopping in the ship's mall. instead you are going to be eating astronaut food, perhaps some zero grav sports are in order or maybe a recreational space walk where you can go out "on deck" in a space suit while under thrust (now that i think about it this would just be a bit of floor space outside with railings, so literally on deck). 

6 hours ago, Bill Phil said:

I’d be much more worried about the captain doing something with his torch drive that would result in unforeseen consequences.

i imagine there would be a number of safeties on the control system to keep the ship from harming its untrained passengers. like locking out thrusts above 1g and limiting the rate of throttling, even limiting rates of rotation such that the passengers do not suffer centrifugal effects. a captain could disable these safeties in extreme situations like needing to answer distress calls or collision avoidance maneuvers.

you might have all passengers wear a watch-like device that can provide emergency instructions to passengers, including the location of the nearest unocupied couch or safety equipment in the event of various emergency situations. a step up from a ship intercom which can issue computer generated instructions tailored to each passenger's current situation that maximize the safety of all passengers. even walk passengers through certain procedures should the crew be unable to get to them. drills on the system could even be part of the astronaut experience (sort of like the lifeboat drills on normal cruises).

Edited July 15, 2020 by Nuke

[Spacescifi]

25 minutes ago, Nuke said:

i wonder if 2001 didn't hit the nail on the head with their use of velcro. metal floors are heavy and most metals used in spacecraft construction are either not magnetic (aluminium) or are weakly magnetic (titanium), assuming were not using ceramics or composites. maybe if you have torch drives you can put down a few hundred square feet of steal plating, but velcro on carbon fiber would weigh a lot less.

i also have a feeling people who would go on such a space cruise would want the astronaut experience. so unlike an ocean cruise which is mostly built around the perpetual binge eating of gourmet foods, gambling in the ship's casino, maybe catching a show or shopping in the ship's mall. instead you are going to be eating astronaut food, perhaps some zero grav sports are in order or maybe a recreational space walk where you can go out "on deck" in a space suit while under thrust (now that i think about it this would just be a bit of floor space outside with railings, so literally on deck). 

i imagine there would be a number of safeties on the control system to keep the ship from harming its untrained passengers. like locking out thrusts above 1g and limiting the rate of throttling, even limiting rates of rotation such that the passengers do not suffer centrifugal effects. a captain could disable these safeties in extreme situations like needing to answer distress calls or collision avoidance maneuvers.

you might have all passengers wear a watch-like device that can provide emergency instructions to passengers, including the location of the nearest unocupied couch or safety equipment in the event of various emergency situations. a step up from a ship intercom which can issue computer generated instructions tailored to each passenger's current situation that maximize the safety of all passengers. even walk passengers through certain procedures should the crew be unable to get to them. drills on the system could even be part of the astronaut experience (sort of like the lifeboat drills on normal cruises).

 

Very nice, the watches helping passengers out.

You just designed a system more useful and modern than the stuff shown in both all of Star Trek, Babylon 5, and the Expanse!

 

Is'nt it wonderful how using a little logic can upgrade common scifi tropes by leaps and bounds ahead of how they arw usually used?

[Nuke]

18 minutes ago, Spacescifi said:

 

Very nice, the watches helping passengers out.

You just designed a system more useful and modern than the stuff shown in both all of Star Trek, Babylon 5, and the Expanse!

 

Is'nt it wonderful how using a little logic can upgrade common scifi tropes by leaps and bounds ahead of how they arw usually used?

scifi focuses on the big innovations that enable the setting and often miss the little ones. cant really say it was my idea, as i was somewhat inspired by contact tracing apps for covid, which can tell you if you are walking into a hotspot and can help enforce social distancing (i think the tesla/spacex are using a watch like device that vibrates when you get too close to someone, and having all their employees wear one). sometimes the future is now. 

Edited July 15, 2020 by Nuke

[Ultimate Steve]

Skimmed through the thread, may not have been mentioned yet, but personally, if there wasn't a piano on the ship I'd go crazy. For 1000 people you will likely want some sort of small music related area.

[KSK]

8 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

How often do I see ISS crew wear protective eyewear?

Fun fact: Every time they enter a new module added to ISS they wear eyewear, since I read that they are protecting eyes from any spare metal shavings that were left during module construction.

Weaponized cutlery: Mostly concerned about people pocketing and later THROWING knives in zero g.

Windows: Unless the glass is made out of some synthetic material that holds a LOT of hydrogen and other radiation absorbent materials, we can forget windows. In fact, assuming we could make one that did flawlessly block/absorb radiation, I doubt it would be clear colored, might have a tint of red or pink or even yellow or blue.

While my ideas my seem... extreme, they would eliminate the potential for certain problems.

Would work well for spaceships where crew safety was the highest concern (warships, maybe freighters).

About the protective eyewear - that's a good point and I imagine that the builders of your space liner took similar precautions. As per this article though (about wearing protective gear when opening the Zarya ISS module) its a temporary measure. Once the air has been assessed to be free of debris, the goggles come off and as far as I'm aware they stay off, unless there's another specific situation that requires them (mending the toilet for example).

About the windows - from my original reply: "Or, if your ship design really does preclude transparent areas in the hull, large flat-panel screens linked to external cameras that serve the same purpose." The point I was making is that whether you're using an actual window or a screen that mimics one, you have a large area of wall that can't be padded.

Not going to bother arguing about weaponized cutlery any more but here's a thought experiment for you. What other everyday items could you ban in case the passengers tried to kill each other with them? It's not hard to find some pretty absurd examples.

As for your last point - quite probably. But this thread is about safety and comfort on a luxury space liner, not warships or freighters. 

 

Edited July 15, 2020 by KSK

[Guest]

Quote

About the windows - from my original reply: "Or, if your ship design really does preclude transparent areas in the hull, large flat-panel screens linked to external cameras that serve the same purpose." The point I was making is that whether you're using an actual window or a screen that mimics one, you have a large area of wall that can't be padded.

That can be fixed if the screen itself is padding. In other words, large flexible panel screen. We can already make such displays, nothing is stopping you from making a padded wall that's also a view screen. Well, to get a good picture it'd have to be more like a trampoline, with a soft, flexible fabric under tension, for people to bounce off. 

33 minutes ago, KSK said:

Not going to bother arguing about weaponized cutlery any more but here's a thought experiment for you. What other everyday items could you ban in case the passengers tried to kill each other with them? It's not hard to find some pretty absurd examples.

Just go to your local airport and ask the TSA (or the local equivalent) what you're not allowed to have on a plane. You know, stuff like soap, nail clippers, Medals of Honor (true story!)...

[Spacescifi]

It may sound control freakish... but what about female hair?

Just having them ride in the back seat of my car leaves long strings of hair behind.

Now imagine how much a THOUSAND people will create!

That's why I want eyewear in weightessness.

[KSK]

25 minutes ago, Spacescifi said:

It may sound control freakish... but what about female hair?

Just having them ride in the back seat of my car leaves long strings of hair behind.

Now imagine how much a THOUSAND people will create!

That's why I want eyewear in weightessness.

Guys have long hair too you know. You're reading a post by a long-haired guy right now in fact.

In the context of your original post, I don't see hair as a particular problem that warrants mandatory eye protection in zero-G. If a particular passenger decides that they'd prefer to use eyewear, that's up to them of course.

Most of the cruise will be spent at 1g, so hair will just fall to the floor and, if the floors are carpeted, will tend to stay there. From there, regular vacuum cleaning will take care of it and I'd kind of hope that a luxury liner on a two month cruise would be cleaned once in a while. Also, as per my previous post, you'll need forced ventilation in zero-G anyway and the ventilation system will tend to trap hair and dust and stuff.

Besides, time spent in zero-g is necessarily scheduled in advance for maneuvers and could easily be scheduled in advance for entertainment purposes. If hair does turn out to be a problem in zero-g, just have a cleaning session scheduled directly beforehand.

 

Edited July 16, 2020 by KSK

[Okhin]

1 minute ago, KSK said:

From there, regular vacuum cleaning will take care of it

Which is easier to do in actual vacuum than in your house. Just open the hatches and wait.

[Spacescifi]

37 minutes ago, KSK said:

Guys have long hair too you know. You're reading a post by a long-haired guy right now in fact.

In the context of your original post, I don't see hair as a particular problem that warrants mandatory eye protection in zero-G. If a particular passenger decides that they'd prefer to use eyewear, that's up to them of course.

Most of the cruise will be spent at 1g, so hair will just fall to the floor and, if the floors are carpeted, will tend to stay there. From there, regular vacuum cleaning will take care of it and I'd kind of hope that a luxury liner on a two month cruise would be cleaned once in a while. Also, as per my previous post, you'll need forced ventilation in zero-G anyway and the ventilation system will tend to trap hair and dust and stuff.

Besides, time spent in zero-g is necessarily scheduled in advance for maneuvers and could easily be scheduled in advance for entertainment purposes. If hair does turn out to be a problem in zero-g, just have a cleaning session scheduled directly beforehand.

 

 

I see you are pro carpet.

I dunno why I lean toward non carpet... probably scifi tropes borrowed from the navy.

Yet carpet beats floor I suppose if it catches dust.

So we need the most dust absorbent carpet known to man!

Knowing me If I designed it I would coat walls and floor with carpet, and assign vacuuming each room by robot drone.

120 staff I think is small for 880 passengers.

A good portion of the staff must be medical, besides the basics like room service/care. Security would be the smallest (so not a lot of redshirts... although I I'm sure passengers WILL substitute), done mostly with robots or drones.

I also thought of running track in zero g with adhesive shoes.

If a woman is running ahead of me... ouch, hair is going all in my face.

Happened to me at 1g on Earth, so in zero g it's sure ti happen to someone.

Believe me, as a teen my mom used to ask me where I was and who with just because of looking at all the female hair in my back seat lol!

 

Edited July 16, 2020 by Spacescifi

[Okhin]

For the ratio of passengers / crew, we can look at luxury gigantic cruisers such as the Majesty of the Sea. According to wikipedia, it's 833 crew memebrs for 2677 passengers. So a little bit of 1 crew memeber for 3 passengers. I assume that take account of room services, kitchens, sailors, technician, doctors and other stuff.

I'm not sure a space endeavour needs a higher ratio of crew per pessenger. Especially if you throw in some drones. You'll probably need a better trained staff, and probably a bigger hospital inside the ship that might raise a little bit the size of the crew. But 1/3 seems a pretty good ratio, so for your 900 passengers, that means 300 staff.

[KSK]

Robot vacuum cleaners would make total sense, especially a fairly unobtrusive, low profile one like a Roomba.

And long hair in zero-G is a good point too. Making hair constraint (by suitable hair style or just using a hairnet) compulsory for long-haired passengers in public spaces during zero-G would be perfectly reasonable in my opinion. 
 

As a practical matter, I can’t imagine any long-haired passenger really objecting to that. The whole cloud of hair thing would get tedious very quickly anyway.

[Spacescifi]

2 hours ago, KSK said:

Robot vacuum cleaners would make total sense, especially a fairly unobtrusive, low profile one like a Roomba.

And long hair in zero-G is a good point too. Making hair constraint (by suitable hair style or just using a hairnet) compulsory for long-haired passengers in public spaces during zero-G would be perfectly reasonable in my opinion. 
 

As a practical matter, I can’t imagine any long-haired passenger really objecting to that. The whole cloud of hair thing would get tedious very quickly anyway.

Which brings me to the topic of zero g sports. What would they be with adhesive shoes and zero g?

 

Track running: Eyewear is needed, since while hair nets may catch hair, sweat beads will trail behind a runner, especially if you are close. And it may sound amusing but I have seen runners experience flatulance (farting/blowing gas) while running fast. In zero g this MIGHT provide enough boost to give a win in a sprint LOL.

Basketball: Not seeing it... even if so would be nothing like 1g basketball. One would need ample protective gear, and given all the collisions and rebounds nvolved, it would look more like football, especially after PPE was added.

Baseball: No way. Requires gravity more or less.

Dodgeball: So long everyone dresses like a professional football player it should go fine.

EDIT: Actually... basketball COULD work. Use a vertical standing disc room, with one hoop above and one below. To reach the opponent hoop fastest you run  with adhesive shoes while dribbling.

Something tells me the floor would have to be bouncy, kind of like trampoline basketball, but the shoes should also adhere so one can run if desired.

And the hoop and pole must both be soft for the inevitable player/hoop collision.

And football player dreess required again.

[Nuke]

6 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

It may sound control freakish... but what about female hair?

Just having them ride in the back seat of my car leaves long strings of hair behind.

Now imagine how much a THOUSAND people will create!

That's why I want eyewear in weightessness.

i worry more about it getting sucked into the life support system. the stuff can stop fans and clog vents and bind up all kinds of machinery. ive had plenty of hair ripped out by power tools (including an incident with a skill saw which damn near became deadly). idk what nasa's policy is for astronauts with big hair but there are plenty of pictures of poofy hair gals in zero g. so maybe its not as big an issue as you might think. if a buzz cut is the price of going to space i guess i can deal with it and grow it back out when i get back to earth, but you can do a lot with hair ties, braiding, or some kind of hair covering like a hijab or the caps worn during a spacewalk. regular vacuum brushing might also be a good idea to keep loose and weak strands under control, and rooms might come with such an apparatus. long term space habitation will likely result in a large number of zero gravity friendly hairstyles and various headware might even become stylish. 

[Spacescifi]

19 minutes ago, Nuke said:

i worry more about it getting sucked into the life support system. the stuff can stop fans and clog vents and bind up all kinds of machinery. ive had plenty of hair ripped out by power tools (including an incident with a skill saw which damn near became deadly). idk what nasa's policy is for astronauts with big hair but there are plenty of pictures of poofy hair gals in zero g. so maybe its not as big an issue as you might think. if a buzz cut is the price of going to space i guess i can deal with it and grow it back out when i get back to earth, but you can do a lot with hair ties, braiding, or some kind of hair covering like a hijab or the caps worn during a spacewalk. regular vacuum brushing might also be a good idea to keep loose and weak strands under control, and rooms might come with such an apparatus. long term space habitation will likely result in a large number of zero gravity friendly hairstyles and various headware might even become stylish. 

 

Oh it is a big deal. Just not as big as it could be because these are trained professional adult women. And the fact that women are few and most cut or tie their hair back.

But imagine a few hundred of these LOL.

Spoiler

"Houston? We got a BIG problem. Somebody is gonna pay for this, you hear me?!"

I assure you the ladies do the big hair mainly for photos, as I really doubt the other astronauts are OK with hair swishing around during regular work hours.

 

Edited July 17, 2020 by Spacescifi

[KSK]

11 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

Which brings me to the topic of zero g sports. What would they be with adhesive shoes and zero g?

As you pointed out, many sports either require gravity or would be cumbersome in zero-G, like track running.

So, if you don’t mind me changing the question a bit, I would go for activities - and not necessarily sports - that either only work in zero-G, or can take advantage of zero-G in some way. After all you can go running anywhere (including this liner when it’s under thrust) but you can’t get easily get that zero-G experience anywhere  but space - not for more than a few minutes at a time anyway.

So what does zero-G give you as an experience? My immediate thoughts are: that floating in midair feeling, the challenge of manoeuvring in three dimensions and the challenge of aiming something at a person moving in three dimensions. You can probably come up with more.

So what kind of activities would take advantage of those experiences? I have some ideas, again you’ll probably have more.

1. The Tube.

Basically a long enclosed space for one passenger at a time to float along. Either transparent so you can see outside or using VR to simulate a view outside. Either way the idea is that you start yourself moving and then just keep going... and going... and going, till you get to the other end.

2. Climbing walls

You could have some pretty funky climbing experiences in zero-G, including crawling along the ceiling Spider-Man style. And if you overreach and fall off the wall, or just need to take a break and hang for a bit - well that’s not a problem in zero-G.

3. Obstacle courses.

A variation on The Tube but with padded obstacles in the way to manoeuvre around. Challenge yourself or compete against other passengers to post the quickest times through the course.

4. Dodgeball. 

In a padded room played with a lightweight sponge ball and appropriate PPE, I actually think zero-G dodgeball would be a lot of fun.

LaserTag.

Basically the Battle Room from Ender’s Game (the book - no idea how it worked in the film). Like LaserTag, or LaserQuest on Earth but in 3D and free fall. Just remember - the other team’s gate is down.

Edited July 17, 2020 by KSK