Research experiment in acceleration resistance
(Hypergravity)
Project by
Bendik Stang - Technical University of Denmark, Informatics and Mathematical Modelling.
Prof.
Knud Erik Heller - Univeristy of Copenhagen, Zological Institute
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Background
Manned space travel to other planets, and solar systems will require very high travel speeds. Light speed would be optimal if possible. One of the problems human space travelers would have to deal with is the acceleration to and from the extreme velocities.
A human without any kind of technical support, can sustain acceleration up to 6G for a prolonged period. This acceleration causes extreme stress on the heart and blood flow.
At an acceleration of 6G (~60 m/s^2) it would take more than 463 hours to reach 1/3 the speed of light. If anyone can survive at 6G for 19 days is uncertain, and quite unlikely.
[Theory:By submerging a human in a liquid with the same density as organic tissue, the acceleration resistance is greatly increased.] (Salt water would be such a liquid.) The forces that normally would cause unconsciousness due to lack of blood flow is eliminated. The general pressure inside the human would at all time match that of the outside water. The lungs complicate this method, and a technical solution would be needed to test this on humans.
There are currently no data on how much acceleration a mammal, or vertebra can sustain while submerged in water. Testing the acceleration resistance of an animal without lungs would give a pointer towards the human maximum acceleration resistance. If the results of such a test were acceleration towards 100G, then a technical solution to human survival with water filled lungs would be truly interesting for the future space travel.
Extreme acceleration will also have some relevance for military applications, such as fighter pilots.
The experiment
In order to minimize the potential problems, an animal without lungs is best suited for this experiment. A fish would seem like a good candidate. Further, it would be preferable if the animal had no gaseous cavities inside. This would ensure that the density of the animal would be as close to that of the surrounding liquid as possible. An animal that matches the requirements would be a shark.
A large centrifuge that can accelerate a water tank containing enough water to support a shark for the duration of the experiment is needed. To monitor the shark during the experiment, a camera is placed in an appropriate position.
Max
acceleration
The first part of the experiment would be to determine the maximum short time resistance to acceleration. This is simply done by accelerating the shark until it becomes unconscious or dies. Once the maximum acceleration has been determined, a new test can be done to determine the longtime resistance.
Prolonged
acceleration
The second part of the experiment would be to find the maximum acceleration for a duration of 20-30 minutes. (maybe more time would be relevant) This can be done by step by step increasing the acceleration. E.g. Starting at 70% of the maximum acceleration and then increase it with 5% for every 20 min. (Making sure that there is enough oxygen in the water for the shark to stay alive under the experiment)
Further research
If the experiment is successful, and the result indicates resistance above 50G (?), further testing would be relevant. Another suitable animal with a higher resemblance to human anatomy would be a whale. The whale has lungs that are capable of collapsing during a dive. This would, if taken advantage of, allow for testing where the complication of air filled lungs could be ignored.
Experiment supervisors
Project
Supervisor
PhD
& DSc, Assoc. Prof Knud Erik Heller
University of Copenhagen – Zoological Institute
Centrifuge,
and technical supervisor.
Professor
(Doesent) Gunnar Bagge
Denmark’s Technical University – Department of Civil Engineering
Test
animals, and animal supervisor