Re: High g on Earth?

In article <VbGdnRVXxoakHYvZRVn-vw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Erik Max Francis says...

Tue Sorensen wrote:

OK, but what of the effects of prolonged exposure, then? Motion
sickness (and the Vomit Comet) are usually caused by relatively brief
exposure to motion, and then a quick return to a situation of
normality. Does space sickness only occur right after weightlessness
sets in, but not once you've been in that state for a while? If so,
that still suggests that the body reacts by adapting to weightlessness
after a while. Even if space sickness returns on subsequent missions,
it probably only does so at the transition from 1 g to 0 g, eh? After
that initial discomfort, is there still a problem?

It does appear at least in part to be related to adaptation (hence its
other name, space adaptation syndrome). But remember the context of
what we were talking about -- it was the use of microgravity suborbital
or orbital civilian flights. That means you're going to be undergoing a
lot of adaptation and not much getting used to it. That still is going
to mean it's barf city.

A: Future tense is hardly appropriate here; we've been doing manned
orbital and suborbital spaceflight and in-atmosphere parabolic zero-G
flight for quite a while now, and we know how it works.

B: "Barf city", is not an accurate description of how it works

C: I think you're being sloppy in several respects here. You're talking
about suborbital and orbital flights interchangeably, when they are quite
different things. You seem to be treating motion sickness and space
adaptation syndrome interchangeably, when they are also quite different
things. And you seem to recognize no gradiation of effect between "can
cause nausea" and "barf city".


Flying multiple times isn't going to really help you as we've already
covered. It's the transition that makes you sick, and basically your
whole flight is going to be shorter than the periods of time it takes to
adapt.

That's a claim that needs numbers attached, and we haven't even gotten the
qualitative distinctions out of the way yet.

Motion sickness, is a short-term response to unexpected or unusual sorts
of motion, and almost as rapidly vanishes when one settles down to any
steady environment - including sitting still in constant zero gravity.
It is likely to be an issue in the first few minutes of any spaceflight,
including the transition to freefall, and for a few more minutes during
re-entry. It will be about as significant in space travel as it is in
air travel - a very few people will be so badly affected as to have to
refrain, and minor precautions will have to be taken for everyone else.

Motion sickness is a bigger issue for parabolic zero-G flight within the
atmosphere, on account of transitions between free fall and acceleration
(unsteady acceleration combined with rotation, at that) occur every minute
or so. Even there, the issue can be dealt with. In either direction,
depending on your tastes. Parabolic zero-G flight can apparently be a
very enjoyable experience for most people. But it is not particularly
useful even for indicating susceptibility to space adaptation syndrome.


SAS, or "space sickness", is a longer-term phenomenon associated with
a constant zero-gravity environment. It takes on the order of an hour
to develop, and lasts on the order of a day, with substantial individual
variation. But a *sub*orbital spaceflight is likely to be over before
space sickness has time to develop, whereas a trip to a space station,
orbital hotel, or whatnot, will last long enough for just about everyone
to adapt and spend most of their time enjoying the experience unhindered
by nausea. Only if someone is offering, e.g., twelve-hour orbital
sightseeing trips, would we expect most of the passengers to suffer
from space adaptation syndrome for most of the flight.

The crew of an Earth-to-orbit space transport, what we used to call a
"space shuttle" before NASA got hold of the term, would also be in the
prime risk period for SAS. But the nature of their jobs suggest that
SAS would be most manageable in their cases.


Which brings us to the third point. Only a small minority of sufferers
of either motion sicknes or SAS, actually vomit. Or otherwise experience
nausea of such magnitude as to dominate the experience. Once the craft
settles down on a steady trajectory, the only way you lose your lunch
is if you do the sort of things that are calculated to make a mildly
nauseous person lose their lunch.

If, OTOH, you exchange masochism for informed common sense, SAS and
motion sickness both seem to be quite manageable. Eat a light lunch
to begin with, and take your dramamine. Sit down, and stay there with
your seatbelt securely fastened. Turn the A/C up a notch. Arrange for
the cabin to be arranged and painted with a clear "up" and "down", and
if there are windows make sure the pilot orients the craft such that the
Earth is in the "down" position. Enjoy the view. If you're going to be
there for more than a few hours, work your way slowly into a range of
basic mobility exercises.

Almost nobody loses their lunch doing this, and after a day or two are
ready to do whatever else is on the agenda. And if they've got a window
seat, pretty much everyone reports that the first day is an amazingly
great experience regardless of any residual nausea.


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*Member:AIAA,NRA,ACLU,SAS,LP * is worth doing for money" *
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