What if You Were Born in Space?

[Juanfro]

I have just seen this:

How do you think the future will be if we begin going "outside"?

There would be Space People and Planet People?

Will we all end having littles bodies and big heads just like those awesome kerbals we play with?

[Karriz]

I don't think humans in space will be permanently living in zero-G in the future- it's simple enough to create an artificial gravity centrifuge.

Of course, the gravity will be lower than 1g, so supposedly people living in space stations and other planets/moons will have a different body shape.

Maybe they would be taller and thinner.

[Awaras]

I don't think humans in space will be permanently living in zero-G in the future- it's simple enough to create an artificial gravity centrifuge.

Of course, the gravity will be lower than 1g, so supposedly people living in space stations and other planets/moons will have a different body shape.

Maybe they would be taller and thinner.

If you are building a permanent habitat with centrifugal gravity, why wouldn't you make the simulated gravity 1g?

[Karriz]

If you are building a permanent habitat with centrifugal gravity, why wouldn't you make the simulated gravity 1g?

Well yeah, 1g would of course be optimal, but it requires a really big station to reduce the coriolis effect.

I'm not sure what would become the "standard" amount of gravity. Stations on the orbit of Mars would probably not use 1g, because they need to be suitable for people who come from the surface.

However, a gigantic ring station orbiting the Earth would probably keep 1g.

[Kerbface]

Well yeah, 1g would of course be optimal, but it requires a really big station to reduce the coriolis effect.

I'm not sure what would become the "standard" amount of gravity. Stations on the orbit of Mars would probably not use 1g, because they need to be suitable for people who come from the surface.

However, a gigantic ring station orbiting the Earth would probably keep 1g.

Well, a 2km diameter station can give 1G at just under 1rpm, which is okay for basically anyone to adapt to fairly quickly but I don't know what effect it would have on fetal and child development. Maybe they would not be able to adapt to a static coriolis free environment. In any case I doubt that a permanent colony would ever exist with a station much smaller.

Then there's like the serious colony ideas where you could have a ring or cylinder maybe 10km in diamter, which would allow 0.4rpm or 1 rotation per 2 min 30 seconds would give 0.9G, which would probably be barely noticeable except that things would move a bit funny when they fall.

Edited May 14, 2013 by Kerbface

[Trux]

I read somewhere (Don't know the exact source) that the ideal environment for working and living in space would be 0.3-0.4G, so you still have effects of gravity working on your body but moving in space is easier than 1G.

[Asmosdeus]

It would be messy and disgusting.

Unless of course there was an artificial gravity, then it would be less messy.

I don't think being born in 0g would be a problem, but growing up in zero gravity would probably mean that you would never be able to return to earth. You'd be a long fragile 4 legged spider of a human that would collapse under it's own weight because it was never exposed to any sort of consistent pressure.

The optimum planetary explorer would probably be an earth born human. Strong, tough and sturdy, but much shorter and thicker than a human born in zero gravity. A strong earth human would be able to handle different gravities, be strong enough enough to move around in bulky hazard suits and thick atmospheres but at the cost of being very heavy in comparison to the space born crew.

The optimum ship crew would probably be a planet born human that grew up on a planet then moved to space, so they have the bone strength and functional muscle strength to be able to handle some gravity, or even return to earth, whilst being longer, thinner and lighter so they could move around ships easier and faster whilst also needing less food to survive due to having less muscle and doing less physical work in general.

[Kerbface]

I read somewhere (Don't know the exact source) that the ideal environment for working and living in space would be 0.3-0.4G, so you still have effects of gravity working on your body but moving in space is easier than 1G.

Well that all depends. If you wanted to go back to Earth at any point you'd want to have at least something like 0.8G so you didn't feel 3 times as heavy when you got there and be unable to support your own weight. That's only really a problem in the long term. Partial G is okay for missions or whatever when you're not going to be in space longer than 5 or so years, or if you're planning on returning to Mars. A martian station would want to rotate at martian gravity, which is between 0.3 and 0.4g (maybe that's why it was suggested). I also imagine if you wanted to go back to Earth after living in partial G like Mars , I expect you'd need to be made gradually used to higher gravity over a period of months or years so you don't collapse under your own weight from your weakened muscles. Going to Earth straight after living for ages on Mars would probably be like if you started walking around with someone piggy backing on you all the time.