Methods for simulating low gravity on high-g planets
There are a lot of solutions for living in low gravity environments. (e.g. centripetal acceleration, linear thrust, etc.)
But what about living on high gravity planets? Is there anyway to build or simulate 1-G in a planet that has 4-g, for example?
This is a stretch, but I recall that if one were to submerge themselves in a fluid it will negate the effects of high g forces. Is it possible to build, say, an underwater habitat on a 4-g ocean planet and utilize buoyancy to offset the high g forces? Say a dome underwater with a sealed environment with pressurized air?
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1 answer
Do it the way NASA did it in the 1960s -- with ropes and pulleys!
No, really. I distinctly recall seeing a video clip, but can't recall exactly where, of how Apollo astronauts trained for walking on the Moon, with its lower gravity.
What they had was what looked like (but likely wasn't, at least not exactly) a suited-up astronaut, attached to a system of ropes and pulleys that presumably offered a counterweight corresponding to 5/6 of the astronaut's total weight. This would reduce the weight experienced by the astronaut as they moved around to 1/6 of normal, which just so happens to match the Moon's gravity pretty well.
There are two obvious downsides with this:
- It's difficult to make it work in two dimensions over any significantly sized area. It's pretty easy if you can live with the limitation of only being able to move any significant distance in a single dimension, though. Lineworld, anyone?
- Any object the astronaut needs to manipulate will retain its normal weight, so you will need some other way of reducing their weight if you want to capture a fuller experience. Less dense props instead of the real thing, tools made specifically from lighter material because they don't need to be as durable anyway, or what have you.
You will also need to adjust the counterweight for the specific astronaut, but that's plenty doable. If you're training multiple astronauts, they will also need to stay aware of the ropes attached to their colleagues to avoid getting tangled.
The clear upside is that you can adjust the level of resistance from gravity to whatever level you prefer that is less than the surface gravity on your planet. Want 1 G on a 4 G world? Or 1/6 G on a 1 G world? Not a problem, just select the counterweights appropriately and hook your people up!
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