How could humans survive in extremely high gravity?
By extremely high gravity, I specifically mean around 28 Gs. I recently asked this question with regards to inhabiting the sun, and surviving in the sun's gravity seems like one of the major challenges.
I'm interested in what would be needed to allow humans to survive in such an environment, both in terms of what modifications can be made to a habitat for the humans to live in, as well as what modifications can be made to the settlers themselves.
I'd like to limit technology to 'things that could be achieved with technology we have either created or are working on', and reasonable extensions of those things. I'm assuming, for example, that we have fusion power (only way I can think of that we can power the cooling systems), and that we have in-situ genetic modification via viral DNA modification, since those are both research targets. I'd likewise consider some basic nanobots in the realm of possibility, but would like to stay away from things like large scale anitmatter production and gravity generators, since those require major breakthroughs in science that we aren't terribly close to.
Within those constraints, what can I do to allow humans to inhabit a 28 G environment for an extended period of time?
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/5230. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Ha! An obscure question I asked somewhere else now becomes relevant!
A while ago, I asked this question on Biology about liquid breathing. It's currently unanswered, and may stay that way forever, but it's now applicable here, which I think is cool. Anyway. . .
Liquid breathing is (as Wikipedia puts it)
a form of respiration in which a normally air-breathing organism breathes an oxygen-rich liquid (such as a perfluorocarbon), rather than breathing air.
Perfluorocarbons are strange compounds made out of carbon and fluorine. They can carry oxygen, and a lot of it. They are stable and have strong inter-atomic bonds. Almost all are liquid at room temperature. Also, they aren't flammable, which turns out to be a really good thing.
More importantly, they may be used in liquid breathing, assuming they are flooded with oxygen. There are two techniques used in liquid breathing; the one we'll have to choose is known as Total Liquid Ventilation (or TLV). It is (no surprise) the technique of completely filling lungs with oxygen-rich prefluorocarbons.
Why does this matter? Liquid breathing can help counteract G-forces. From Wikipedia,
Liquid immersion provides a way to reduce the physical stress of G forces. Forces applied to fluids are distributed as omnidirectional pressures. Because liquids cannot be practically compressed, they do not change density under high acceleration such as performed in aerial maneuvers or space travel. A person immersed in liquid of the same density as tissue has acceleration forces distributed around the body, rather than applied at a single point such as a seat or harness straps. This principle is used in a new type of G-suit called the Libelle G-suit, which allows aircraft pilots to remain conscious and functioning at more than 10 G acceleration by surrounding them with water in a rigid suit.
Unfortunately, the limit for this technique is somewhere around 20 G (and we're being generous here). Wikipedia does say that it might be possible by raising the density level of the liquid, but there's still a limit.
So all you have to do is fill the planet with an ocean of perfluorocarbons, and you're set!$^1$ Of course, most of the perfluorocarbons would evaporate at the temperatures in, on or near the Sun, but hey, you can't have everything.
$^1$ Note: The one huge downside here is that liquid breathing hasn't really been tested on humans before for long durations, so you're going to have to hope you get lucky.
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