O'Neill Cylinders

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by Brett

I have 10 km radius here, and period 200 seconds. My reading suggests that that is ample to avoid dizziness, disorientation, and sickness. But there will be some noticeable Coriolis effects. A person running fast (10 ms^1) to the east will feel a 6% increase in "gravity", and a person running fast to the west a 6% decrease. The difference in long-jump distances will be the same. Rising in a high-speed lift (1 storey per second) you will feel a force of a 0.9% of a gee pushing you east.

I don't think it will affect anyone's Rugby skills.

5-6%, or a 10-12% range in ability, would be quite significant in many situations. With guns, having to shoot higher or lower by that much (and it would be more at bullet velocities) would give a huge penalty to skill.

I think Rotating Frame G-Experience would be a valid enhancement if you want to go for realism.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

I think Rotating Frame G-Experience would be a valid enhancement if you want to go for realism.

Good point.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Brett

I'm foreign. You can't expect me to recognise such oblique references to Disney World.

But it's right there by the spaceport!


Blown up or no, my point is that they don't necessarily have to go far afield to have those environments available for training, especially if there's a place purpose-built for high-budget, short-time-span tourism/dversion. Like the luxurious capital space habitat described.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

Blown up or no, my point is that they don't necessarily have to go far afield to have those environments available for training, especially if there's a place purpose-built for high-budget, short-time-span tourism/dversion. Like the luxurious capital space habitat described.

Sure. I don't go in for single-biome planets, and even if I did you would be dead right about the possibility of building different sorts of environments as training ranges at a single campus. It is the gravity issue that binds. I think I need free-fall, asteroidal gravity, light, medium, and heavy. So I can get away with a light planet, a heavy planet, and multiple locations in this solar system.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Brett

Sure. I don't go in for single-biome planets, and even if I did you would be dead right about the possibility of building different sorts of environments as training ranges at a single campus. It is the gravity issue that binds. I think I need free-fall, asteroidal gravity, light, medium, and heavy. So I can get away with a light planet, a heavy planet, and multiple locations in this solar system.

The habitat is superior to Disneyworld in that lower gravity levels are available at locations closer to the axis, and if you have those pods I mentioned a while back extending further from the axis, then you've got heavier gravities, though they might not be roomy enough for operations there to count as field exercises.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Brett

Sure. I don't go in for single-biome planets, and even if I did you would be dead right about the possibility of building different sorts of environments as training ranges at a single campus. It is the gravity issue that binds. I think I need free-fall, asteroidal gravity, light, medium, and heavy. So I can get away with a light planet, a heavy planet, and multiple locations in this solar system.

What about also training in rotational gravities?

For slow RPM rotations, like in an O'Neill size habitat, the coriolis(sp?) effect should be neglible, but for much smaller habitats it will be an issue.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

What about also training in rotational gravities?

For slow RPM rotations, like in an O'Neill size habitat, the coriolis(sp?) effect should be neglible, but for much smaller habitats it will be an issue.

There are rotating habitats in the Solar System, others besides the Capitol.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Brett

There are rotating habitats in the Solar System, others besides the Capitol.

But is it part of the training regimen? If not, should it be?

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

But is it part of the training regimen? If not, should it be?

Certainly it should. The Fleet Protection deployment involves a lot of boarding and inspection on smaller-sized colonial habitats. (Besides ships and asteroids.)

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

The habitat is superior to Disneyworld in that lower gravity levels are available at locations closer to the axis, and if you have those pods I mentioned a while back extending further from the axis, then you've got heavier gravities, though they might not be roomy enough for operations there to count as field exercises.

Also, unlike Disneyworld, the O'Neill Habitat probably doesn't have that pernicious rodent problem.

:)