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A micro-g environment (also µg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is one where the acceleration induced by gravity has little or no measurable effect, gravity itself does not change.[1] The only three methods of creating a micro-g environment are to travel far enough into deep space so as to reduce the effect of gravity by attenuation, by falling, and by orbiting a planet. The terms weightlessness and Zero-G refer to this same environment.
The first method is the simplest in conception, but requires you to travel an enormous distance, rendering it most impractical. Even during the missions to the Moon, the astronauts only experienced micro-g because they were orbiting the sun.
The second method, falling, is very common but approaches micro-g only when the fall is in a vacuum, as air resistance will provide some resistance to free fall acceleration. Also it is difficult to fall for long enough periods of time to do much experimentation or to support any commercial activity. There are also problems involving avoiding too sudden a stop at the end. However, it is still used as training for astronauts and for some experiments. Drop towers and airplanes (such as used by NASA's Reduced Gravity Research Program, aka the Vomit Comet) provide short term weightlessness.
The third is orbiting a planet, which is really just falling with sufficient forward (tangential) speed that you go all the way around the planet and end up back where you started (in other words, the arc of your fall matches the arc of the planet below; the earth curves away at the same rate that you fall towards it). This is the environment most people think of, with common examples being the Space Shuttle, International Space Station, Mir, etc. While this scenario is the most suitable for scientific experimentation and commercial exploitation, it is still quite expensive to operate in, mostly due to launch costs.
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Commercial applications
Metal spheres
In a shot tower (now obsolete), molten metal (such as lead or steel), was dripped through a sieve into free fall. With sufficient height (several hundred feet), the metal would be solid enough to resist impact at the bottom of the tower. While the shot may have been slightly deformed by its passage through the air and by impact at the bottom, this method produced metal spheres of sufficient roundness to be used directly in shotgun shells or to be refined by further processing for applications requiring higher accuracy.
High quality crystals
While not yet a commercial application, there has been much interest in growing crystals in micro-g, as in a space station or automated artificial satellite, in an attempt to reduce crystal lattice defects. Such defect-free crystals may prove useful for certain microelectronic applications and also to produce crystals for subsequent X-ray crystallography.
See also
References
- ^ http://www.jamesoberg.com/myth.html OMNI magazine, May 1993, pp. 38ff
External links
- Criticism of the terms "Zero Gravity" and "Microgravity", a persuasion to use terminology that reflects accurate physics (Sci.space post).
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 7 October 2008, at 21:34.
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