Gee Plus

Adapting to a High RPM Environment

The Experiment

A 9 meter radius, rotating long-duration space habitat simulation on Earth, simulating 1.4 gees at 10 RPM. 1.4 gees is the vector sum of 1 gee horizontal and 1 gee vertical. Experimental subjects with BMI < 20, having a "gravitational BMI" < 28 but the same "metabolic BMI".

Postulates

• (1) Humans evolved to run, hence may be optimized for > 1 gee

  • see work by Joan Vernikos, NASA Ames (retired)
  • zero gee causes rapid "aging"

• (2) The human vestibular system can adapt to high RPMS

  • Experiments with rotating rooms show 6 RPM adaptation in 3 days, 10 RPM in 5 days
  • Experiments with rotating tube beds suggest 30 RPM ( ! ) adaptation for head movements
  • Athletes undergo much faster head rotations

Goals

• (1) Test the Vernikos theory: do healthy humans do better in > 1 gee environments?

  • corollary: there is no lower-than-one-gee "sweet spot"; Moon and Mars gravity may accelerate aging as well

• (2) Learn about long term vestibular adaption, and the transition from rotation to non-rotation

  • test frequent transitions through the hub to 1 gee and 0 RPM

• (3) Select astronauts for vestibular tolerance for rotating habitats in microgravity

• (4) Make low BMI rotonauts into heros

Math

a = 9.81 \times gee ~=~ \omega^2 R ~=~ { \Large \left( { 2 \pi } \over T \right) }^2 R ~=~ 4 \pi^2 { \Large { R \over T^2 } } ~~~ T in seconds

gee \times T^2 \approx 4 R ~~~~~ T ~=~ 60 / RPM

R ~=~ { \Large \left( 30 \over RPM \right)}^2 gee