Skip to main content
Top

2007 | Book

Artificial Gravity

Editors: Gilles Clément, Angie Bukley

Publisher: Springer New York

Book Series : Space Technology Library

insite
SEARCH

About this book

William H. Paloski, Ph. D. Human Adaptation and Countermeasures Office NASA Johnson Space Center Artificial gravity is an old concept, having gotten its start in the late in the 19th century when Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, considered by many to be the father of the Russian space program, realized that the human body might not respond well to the free fall of orbital space flight. To solve this problem, he proposed that space stations be rotated to create centripetal accelerations that might provide inertial loading similar to terrestrial gravitational loading. Einstein later showed in his equivalence principle that acceleration is indeed indistinguishable from gravity. Subsequently, other individuals of note, including scientists like Werner von Braun as well as artists like Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, devised elaborate solutions for spinning vehicles to provide “artificial gravity” that would offset the untoward physiological consequences of spaceflight. By 1959, concerns about the then-unknown human responses to spaceflight drove NASA to consider the necessity of incorporating artificial gravity in its earliest human space vehicles. Of course, owing in part to the relatively short durations of the planned missions, artificial gravity was not used in the early NASA programs.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. The Gravity Of The Situation
Gilles Clément, Angie Bukley, William Paloski
Chapter 2. Physics of Artificial Gravity
Angie Bukley, William Paloski, Gilles Clément
Chapter 3. History of Artificial Gravity
Gilles Clément, Angie Bukley, William Paloski
Chapter 4. Physiological Targets of Artificial Gravity: The Sensory-Motor System
Eric Groen, Andrew Clarke, Willem Bles, Floris Wuyts, William Paloski, Gilles Clément
Chapter 5. Physiological Targets of Artificial Gravity: The Cardiovascular System
Guglielmo Antonutto, Gilles Clément, Guido Ferretti, Dag Linnarsson, Anne Pavy-Le Traon, Pietro Di Prampero
Chapter 6. Physiological Targets of Artificial Gravity: The Neuromuscular System
Mario Narici, Jochen Zange, Pietro Di Prampero
Chapter 7. Phyysiological Targets of Artificial Gravity: Adaptive Processes in Bone
Jörn Rittweger
Chapter 8. Interactions Among the Vestibular, Autonomic, and Skeletal Systems in Artificial Gravity
Pierre Denise, Hervé Normand, Scott Wood
Chapter 9. Interactions Among Artificial Gravity, The Affected Physiological Systems, and Nutrition
Martina Heer, Nathalie Baecker, Sara Zwart, Scott Smith
Chapter 10. Artificial Gravity And The Immune System Function
Satish Mehta, Brian Crucian, Duane Pierson, Clarence Sams, Raymond Stowe
Chapter 11. Medical, Psychological, and Environmental Issues of Artificial Gravity
Jeffrey Jones, Randal Reinertson, William Paloski
Chapter 12. Safety Issues in Artificial Gravity Studies
John Byard, Larry Meeker, Randal Reinertson, William Paloski
Chapter 13. Recommended Research
Joan Vernikos, William Paloski, Charles Fuller, Gilles Clèment
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Artificial Gravity
Editors
Gilles Clément
Angie Bukley
Copyright Year
2007
Publisher
Springer New York
Electronic ISBN
978-0-387-70714-3
Print ISBN
978-0-387-70712-9
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-70714-X

Premium Partner