What kind of footwear is suitable for walking in micro gravity environment?
Set in the near future, the interior of the spaceship is coated with thin layers of Teflon approximately 10mm average thickness on top of titanium alloy which in case you are wondering it is weakly magnetic. I need the crews to be able to walk around the catladders and platforms instead of floating everywhere in a very spacious area, no nets, safety harness/ropes, FTL, wrap, artificial gravity and ET allowed. Is there any durable and affordable footwear to allow the crews to walk around the spaceship effortlessly instead of free fall?
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1 answer
Ballet slippers.
That 10mm layer of teflon has similar thickness and properties to Marley, a vinyl floor covering used in nearly all serious ballet studios and performance spaces. Also good for other forms of dance in bare feet or soft shoes (or hard shoes with soft coverings aka pointe shoes).
Ballet slippers are designed to be durable, comfortable, and to protect the foot from friction (lack of gravity doesn't means there isn't friction as a foot twists while pushing off from a surface) and other concerns.
More importantly, they are designed not to fall apart in ways that leave little pieces lying around (or floating around, as the case may be). Little bits of stuff are dangerous for dancing.
The standard ballet slipper is made of soft leather or canvas (canvas wears out faster but might be okay in low-gravity; leather can last for years) with a cloth lining. There are elastic straps over the top so the shoe is always perfectly secure. The bottom of the shoe has leather soles, either one long one or two smaller ones at ball and heel.
If you need magnets, they can go into split sole (the kind with two pieces of leather on the bottom) shoes. Use flat, thin, flexible magnets under or within the covering for the ball of the foot.
If you need velcro or another sticky substance, it can also go on the leather soles of the slippers.
Ballet slippers are light, compress for storage, are not that expensive (unless you are outfitting a serious dancer), and are widely available commercially in a variety of styles and a huge range of sizes. Colors are mostly pink and black with some tan/brown and white available, but I'm sure could be any color with a large special order.
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