Benefits of Centrifuge for AG and Radiation

[A_M_Swallow]

if you want a centrifuge for human, it will be something like the 2001: A Space Odyssey type...whole space station rotates
but that's nearly impossible...even if you can build such a large structure in space, imagine how can you dock your Soyuz/Shuttle at a rotating space station with a rotating PMA[assuming your docking port is at the axis of rotation]?

Basically put the docking bay on a separate module at the centre of the circle.  Rotate in the opposite direction from the rest of the spacestation so it appears still.  After docking and fastening the space ship to the station use an ordinary electric motor to rotate the core until everything is rotating in the same direction at the same revolutions per minute.  Reverse on departure.

[A_M_Swallow]

"strong non-levitating fields" does not really equate to what you were talking about (strong *levitating* fields, right?)   Fields that strong (~100T give or take ??) should make things VERY interesting when of any size to exist within (dewar is how big?!), and it will be a tough 'field' to work in, but I do think it bears looking at, of course.  And 'adverse effects' were not defined...speaking of just vertigo or being scared?  Or down to the cellular/molecular level?   I did not see that mentioned in that article...  the word 'ill' not used.  And I am not trying to be trite, I promise 

Alex

This equipment could also be used to test the effects of low gravity.  Mars gravity is 3.69 m/s² and lunar gravity is 1.62 m/s².

[Hop_David]

if you want a centrifuge for human, it will be something like the 2001: A Space Odyssey type...whole space station rotates

I believe the old Stanford Tori were based on the assumptions that 1 rpm was max angular velocity humans could be comfortable with and that we needed 1 G to stay healthy.

Both those assumptions are questionable.

I believe the first rotating habs for humans will be much smaller than the 2001 space station.

[joema]

...Why is it nearly impossible to rotate the docking spacecraft to match the station?

It's not impossible, in fact this was planned as a possible experiment for Apollo on Skylab B (which unfortunately never flew).

The idea was to rotate the entire Skylab/Apollo assembly at 4 rpm to produce roughly lunar gravity, about 0.18 g. Skylab wasn't designed to spin, but structural and control analysis indicated it might sustain 4 rpm for a limited period for experimental purposes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab_B
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19790072679_1979072679.pdf

You obviously can only rotate a vehicle with characteristics suitable for this, but considering the cost and development time of a large space station, the launch vehicle would be designed for compatibility.

The current shuttle was designed to service a modular zero-G space station. If a future larger rotating space station was designed, the commensurate future service vehicle would be designed to service that.

The movie 2001 showed the concept, with a large wheel-type space station rotating in sync with a shuttle. Note the entire station rotated -- there was no counter-spun stationary hub.

Re human sensitivity to Coriolis dizziness, this varies widely. Some studies indicate selected humans could adapt to 7.5 or even 10 rpm:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11020210&dopt=AbstractPlus