Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

NASA Wants You! (To Sit in a Spinning Room)

Posted by timothy on from the you-get-points-for-vomit-accuracy dept.

slinted writes: "Bottomquark recently posted that Nasa scientists are looking for a few good men (5"8' or less) to participate in hypergravity experiments. The experiments entail 7 'habitation sessions,' 5 of which will last up to 22 hours of spinning at up to 2G in a chamber 7.6 feet long and 6 feet wide. Since the experiments are at Ames Research Center, in Mountain View CA, this might be perfect for some techies 'in between projects.'"

35 comments

  1. 5'8"? by linzeal · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well legs I'm going to miss you.

    --
    An Education is the Font of All Liberty
    1. Re:5'8"? by masterkool · · Score: 0

      I would hate to know what they are doing all this for. How many things can involve prolonged exposure to hypergravity. Certantly not liftoff, that only takes a few minutes...what could it be then?

      --
      I once shot a man who posted too many, "Imagine a beowulf cluster of these"
  2. Jane ... stop this crazy thing by nucal · · Score: 3, Funny
    "At any time, and for any reason, participants will be able to terminate the session by pressing a button, or simply by asking the medical monitor to stop the session," Cohen noted. A laptop computer with electronic games, questionnaires and behavioral tests loaded onto its hard drive also will be on board. "Your use of this computer will be completely at your discretion," Cohen tells candidates.

    Do you feel like puking now?

    How about now?

    How about now?

    ...

  3. This is perfect! by hkon · · Score: 2, Funny

    This way, I can make the room spin without spending all my money on booze.

  4. Sounds fishy by IainHere · · Score: 1

    During the daylong sessions, participants will conduct normal routines, such as [...] excreting [...]. Closed-circuit video cameras will monitor all activities.

    I wonder whether www.hypergravityScatology.com has anything to do with this?

  5. Martial Arts Training? by codexus · · Score: 2

    Anyone wants to train his martial arts, Dragon Ball style? Only 2G though :(

    --
    True warriors use the Klingon Google
  6. 5"8' or less before or after the experiment? by battjt · · Score: 4, Funny

    5"8' or less before or after the experiment?

    --
    Joe Batt Solid Design
  7. Time enough at last... by realgone · · Score: 1
    You know, this whole thing could end up as a great Twilight Zone / Burgess-Meredith-weeping-in-the-rubble kinda moment...

    TEST SUBJECT:
    Wow, I get to spend weeks locked in a Tilt-a-Whirl with nothing to do but mess around on a game-filled laptop. This is so cool.

    DOCTOR (closing the door):
    Did we mention it's Windows? And the only games are Tresspasser and something by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen?

    *slam*

    TEST SUBJECT:
    Noooooooooooooooooo!

    1. Re:Time enough at last... by Verne · · Score: 1

      Start:

      :Programs:

      :Accessories:

      :Games... NOOOOooooooo!!! Wheres the minesweeper and solitare!@#!@#$

      --


      There are only two things in this world that smell like fish. And one of them's fish...
  8. Beer? by Unknown+Poltroon · · Score: 1

    If im gonna han out under 2 gs, the last thing i wanna do is be sober.

    --
    All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
    1. Re:Beer? by linzeal · · Score: 1

      I vote lsd or shrooms with phillip glass music. Why are dear friend phillip? Well no one makes music as leaden as he does lately.

      --
      An Education is the Font of All Liberty
  9. 802.11b by machine+of+god · · Score: 1

    My question is, will I be able to read slashdot from inside that spinning box thing? I would also like to add that after two years, I finally had to make an account to post a reply. Hooray for apathy.

  10. 2G's....is there a new Spacedrive in the offing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Something is afoot...there's nothing in the current (read non black programs) capable of sustained 2G acceleration.
    Either they're doing REALLY advanced research or there's potential for round trips to Mars in a week or so....in the near term!
    Where do I sign up ?

  11. Non Diminutive by Kryptic+Knight · · Score: 1
    So thats it for us six foot plus'ers then is it?


    Forever trapped here in the gravity well of planet earth and denied the chance of spaceflight by NASA's demands that all its spacers be 5'8" or less?


    Sheesh.. cut my legs off at the knee.

    --
    --- This meme is memory intensive
    1. Re:Non Diminutive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm w/ u there. just gimme g suit-style air bladder implants, I'll take it just as well as the midgets....

  12. Can we put Tom Cruise in there? by Doctor+Fishboy · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    This is just a ploy by Nicole to get the remainder of the divorce settlement out of him.

    OTOH, this means he could remake "Top Gun" for the NASA astronaut corps.... blech.

  13. Re: don't you mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Are you puking now?
    Good.

    Are you puking now?
    Good.

    Are you puking now?
    Good.

  14. More like 4.5 G, right? by Muad'Dave · · Score: 2

    If I remember my high school physics, centripedal acceleration was a = v^2/r. If we assume the 58 feet mentioned in the article is the radius of the thing, we get 364.4 ft for the diameter. They mention 15 rev/min, which is 0.25 rev/s, making the velocity of the people compartment 91.1 ft/s. Doing the math, (91.1^2/58) gives you 4.47 G, right?

    --
    Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
    1. Re:More like 4.5 G, right? by Spamalamadingdong · · Score: 3, Informative
      If I remember my high school physics, centripedal acceleration was a = v^2/r. If we assume the 58 feet mentioned in the article is the radius of the thing, we get 364.4 ft for the diameter.
      No, the diameter would be 116 feet. The circumference would be 364.4 feet.

      But if you really remembered your physics you'd know that a = r. From r and a you can calculate directly, or vice versa.

      They mention 15 rev/min, which is 0.25 rev/s, making the velocity of the people compartment 91.1 ft/s. Doing the math, (91.1^2/58) gives you 4.47 G, right?
      .25 * 58 feet * .3048 meter/ft = 1.10 m/sec&sup2. I'd assume that there's an error in the article or in your analysis (I'm being booted off and don't have time to check now).
      --
      Scientists restrict study to entire physical universe; creationist
    2. Re:More like 4.5 G, right? by CheshireCatCO · · Score: 2

      Let's see.. 58 ft is about 17.7 meters. With a revolution every 4 seconds, &omega = 1.6 1/sec. So the acceleration is about 43.6 m/sec&sup2, or 4.45 times g. That theses numbers agree stands to reason: both formulae are the same, if you remember that &omega = v/r.

    3. Re:More like 4.5 G, right? by adminispheroid · · Score: 1
      OK. When you make a centrifuge you have to put a counterweight on the opposite side, so you don't rip the bearing apart, so when they say 58 ft they mean diameter. Hence r = 29 ft = 8.8 m. Put this together with 15 rpm and you get 22 m/s^2 or about 2 g.

      Glad I could help.

      Of course you have to add this in quadrature with the Earth's grav, so you get more like 2.4 g.

    4. Re:More like 4.5 G, right? by Gaijinator · · Score: 1

      1) Changing a = v^2/r to a = w^2r is trivial, considering that v = wr. You neglected that w must be in radians per second. And, if this centrifuge works like I think it does, 58 feet is the diameter Therefore...

      w = 2(pi)*.25
      a = .25(pi)^2*29 = 71.555 ft/s^2 or 21.810 m/s^2 or 2.225g

      (Yeah I used w for omega. They look similar.)

      --
      "For success, it is essential you have Thunderball Fists." "I can have such a thing?" "That's right. Thunderball Fists."
    5. Re:More like 4.5 G, right? by Spamalamadingdong · · Score: 2
      You are, of course, correct. I was too hurried to see that I had forgotten to multiply by 4. (Damn, does pi ever suck in the typeface on this lousy computer!)

      By the way, you can get the omega character with the sequence ω, and the superscript 2 with ². This doesn't require much extra typing and really adds to your clarity.

      --
      Scientists restrict study to entire physical universe; creationist
  15. Re:2G's....is there a new Spacedrive in the offing by leucadiadude · · Score: 2

    You might want to actually read the article.

    They are talking about getting data for a centrifuge on a spacecraft. Possibly to aid astronauts in acclimatizing to a destination planet on a long long trip, Mars for example. There is no mention of any spacedrive stuff....

  16. You start at 5'8".... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...but end up at 5'4".

    "Anyone above 5'8" couldn't fall without hurting themselves, put a height limit in the proposal!"

    And here I thought short people had no reason to live?

    Take my wife, please!

  17. Can't... resist... bad... joke! by Valdrax · · Score: 2

    So, does this mean that NASA's going to pay for you to just sit and spin?

    --
    If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
  18. I want to do this! by Schwamm · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm under the height limit.

    Too bad I'm a girl. :-/

    1. Re:I want to do this! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Under the effect of hypergravity your breasts might break off and spill.

  19. Remember "Spies Like Us"? by The+Wooden+Badger · · Score: 1

    Want some coffee?
    Sure.

    --
    Heroscape, it's like legos combined with anachronistic wargames.
  20. I thought they did that on rats by phr1 · · Score: 2
    They spun rats at 3g for quite a long time (weeks or months, maybe even from birth--I don't remember). The rats came out as super-rats, with much stronger muscles than normal rats. Meanwhile, astronauts who spent long periods weightless lost muscle mass. It was sort of embarassing for space buffs who thought zero g would be good for you--it's sort of the opposite.

    So this experiment sounds cool. I'd look into signing up except I'm over the height limit.

    1. Re:I thought they did that on rats by soulcuttr · · Score: 1

      I thought they did that on Dragon Ball Z characters. I seem to recall a few episodes in which they trained in a hyper-gravity chamber.

      Seriously, though, once the experiment terminates, it's got to be scary to feel your normal usual weight again. I would imagine that you would make all sorts of mistakes, such as trying to lift a spoon and flinging it halfway across the room (woops!). Given the length of the experiment, though, you would probably not have the opportunity to get used to the extra G too much.

      -Sou|cuttr

  21. HTML hints by Spamalamadingdong · · Score: 1
    You can use ω to get the character, and π to get the character.

    ² works to get the superscript, as in . Here's to clarity and accuracy.

    --
    Scientists restrict study to entire physical universe; creationist
    1. Re:HTML hints by Gaijinator · · Score: 1

      Actually, the only one that works in Netscape 4.x is ², which I had forgotten about. ω and π don't do anything. Yes, I know, Netscape sucks and all, but it's what I've got to work with at the moment.

      --
      "For success, it is essential you have Thunderball Fists." "I can have such a thing?" "That's right. Thunderball Fists."
  22. I think back now... by morgajel · · Score: 1

    during my highschool days when everyone made fun of me because I was short.. we'll I'm all grown up now(5'7") and I'm the one whose laughing! HAHAHA! I think I'm actually gonna look into this- being in michigan I doubt my chances are very good, but I'm moving in a year. I'll report back if I do land it:)

    --
    Looking for Book Reviews? Check out Literary Escapism.