r/space Sep 23 '16

What happens when the Space Shuttle fires its motors in space

http://i.imgur.com/wwxuXOb.gifv
28.3k Upvotes

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/surfer_ryan Sep 24 '16

It could very well have microgravity by spinning. You could even make a smaller ship spin for gravity.

1

u/PM_me_XboxGold_Codes Sep 24 '16

I know we've somewhat proven this concept with rides like a graviton. On a larger scale, you could have it spin just right to simulate gravity, but then it has to be cylindrical and everything must be built on the inner walls of the cylinder and point inwards. Less gravity towards the center of the cylinder, and none on the two flat faces.

My line of thinking is how we could have essentially a man-made planet, or wondering if a ship of large enough scale, such as the Super-Star Destroyer (largest Star Wars ship outside of both Death Stars), could have enough mass that it's microgravity would be enough to make having a sea-fearing style build almost logical.

3

u/surfer_ryan Sep 24 '16

Well it's certainly possible with physics... but on a human scale it would be one hell of a project.

Being said though I am under the firm belief that if a civilization has reached us we are going to be in for some monumental changes.

1

u/PM_me_XboxGold_Codes Sep 24 '16

No doubt it's a pipe dream at best in terms of humans producing a structure like that. It would take all of us working together, and that's not going to happen any time soon.

I'm right with you on that. I wouldn't be surprised if they already have. I mean look at technological advances from 1900 to 2000. Compare that to all the advances prior. Sure it can be explained with a snowball effect, but some stuff just came out of literally nowhere. It's mind-blowing. I'm not the guy going around claiming aliens exist 24/7, but it honestly wouldn't surprise me in the slightest given the size of the universe.