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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.'"

13 of 35 comments (clear)

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

    Well legs I'm going to miss you.

    --
    An Education is the Font of All Liberty
  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. 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
  5. 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
  6. 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?

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    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).
      --
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    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 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
  7. 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....

  8. 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?

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

    I'm under the height limit.

    Too bad I'm a girl. :-/

  10. 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.