Ways to cushion an un-augmented human against high, prolonged g-forces?

Soft sci-fi uses inertial dampeners. Harder sci-fi uses stuff like advanced crash couches, robotic exoskeletons, or (my personal favorite) drug cocktails filled with stimulants and other medication like the Expanse's "juice". I'm looking for something a little different and a little bit out-there. Ideas for handling high acceleration that involve a lot of thinking outside the box. I wasn't quite sure where to start researching technologies like this, but I have some (pretty silly) ideas I came up with myself. Stuff like cryogenics that freezes everything except the brain (probably pretty silly), submerging the crew in tanks of water or nutrient-rich, oxygenated liquid to take the weight off their bones and muscles (definitely pretty silly), and even keeping the crew in a constant state of free-fall with a giant wind tunnel that provides upward thrust equivalent to the current artificial thrust gravity (really, really silly). Does anyone here have any other ideas that are a bit more out-there or might work better?

To clarify, I'm specifically looking for unique, creative, and/or novel methods for dealing with a prolonged period of high acceleration aboard a spaceship when the crew doesn't have the luxury of cyborging themselves up for the trip. Something like a constant 3-5 gs at least, probably more like 9-12 for a period of a few months with minimal zero-g breaks. This method or technology would also need to be capable of handling short bursts lasting a few seconds to a few minutes at up to 30-40 gs (like the rocket sled used by John Stapp). And above all else, it has to be scientifically plausible (which some of my ideas probably aren't lol).

posted about 7 years ago

Z.Schroeder‭

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