Japanese researchers have proposed building artificially gravity buildings on the Moon and Mars that could help reduce the risks to human health in space.
His proposals follow a study published earlier this month that found astronauts suffered significant bone loss while in low-gravity environments.
Only about half of that bone loss was recovered a year after the astronauts returned to Earth, raising concerns about future missions to Mars and the Moon.
Now researchers at Kyoto University and Kajima Corporation have proposed huge rotating structures that would create the effect of Earth-like gravity using centripetal force.
They propose to build a living installation on the Moon called Lunar Glass that will have a height close to 400 meters and complete a complete rotation every 20 seconds.
A similar installation called Mars Glass for Mars is proposed.
Image: Mars Glass would contain a biome of plant life that would allow human settlers to survive. Image: Kajima Corporation
Representations of these buildings shared by Kyoto University’s SIC Center for Human Spatology are similar to the space station in the 2013 Elysium science fiction film, though much smaller in scale.
The multi-storey surfaces of revolving buildings are surrounded by liquid water and tree-lined land, creating a mini-biome with water and carbohydrate cycles to sustain human populations.
Alongside these facilities, the researchers proposed an interplanetary transport system that maintains Earth-like gravity on the path called the Hexatrack system.
The Hexatrack ground train wagons would separate at the injection stations and then be inserted into a rotating hexagonal sheath that also generates centripetal force as it travels through space.
Simulated gravity rotation is already used in high-g centrifuges to train astronauts and aviators.
Science fiction films such as Elysium, Interstellar, and 2001: In Space Odyssey feature spaceships that rotate to create artificial gravity, although no existing spacecraft has yet been designed to simulate it.
Researchers have proposed the entire system along with the announcement of a joint study to achieve the plan, although they do not expect it to yield results immediately.
“There is no plan like this in the spatial development plans of other countries,” said Yosuke Yamashiki, director of the SIC Center for Human Spatology.
“Our plan represents crucial technologies to ensure that humans can move into space in the future,” he added.
They warn that the construction of the full-size facilities will take about 100 years, although they hope to build a simplified version on the Moon by 2050.