These vehicles are manufactured not for use on t'Kela alone but on any planet with a humanly unbreathable atmosphere but what of other environmental factors?
"Gravity on t'Kela was about the same as on Earth or Esperance.
"The only thing that's the same, Joyce thought wildly." (p. 58)
However, if the gravity also had been different, then Technic technology, both in the base and in the vehicles, would have compensated. On Suleiman:
"Outside the compound's forcefield, local gravity dragged at [Emil Dalmady] with forty percent greater pull than Earth's."
-Poul Anderson, "Esau" IN Anderson, The Earth Book Of Stormgate (New York, 1978), pp. 100-125 AT p. 107.
Will this ever be possible? With sufficient technological progress, some ways to counteract environment differences will be found.
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And I thought the gravity of Imhotep, 30% greater than that of Terra's in THE GAME OF EMPIRE, would be burdensomely heavy for me! But I think Anderson believed humans would not care to colonize planets with gravities heavier than what Imhotep has.
Ad astra! Sean
Carrying a backpack with some 30% of my bodyweight definitely slows me down, but perhaps if I was doing that all the time I would adapt.
I recall reading about an experiment in which lab rats were kept in a centrifuge putting them under effective gravity more than earth normal. IIRC they were healthy & looked like bodybuilder rats.
In Arthur C. Clarke's novel "Imperial Earth" a human who grew up on Titan (gravity similar to earth's moon) trained for a visit to Earth by wearing clothing with pockets for weights made of some dense metal like lead or tungsten.
Kaor, Jim!
I agree, the strong, healthy, and young could adapt to Imhotep's gravity. THE GAME OF EMPIRE mentions how, over generations/centuries, the humans who settled the highlands (where they could breathe the atmosphere) had adapted to the gravity.
Ha, amusing, body builder rats!
For Titan I think an O'Neill habitat orbiting it would be better, then the colonists there could spendy lengthy times in the habitat at a standard Earth gravity.
Ad astra! Sean
You are *probably* right about the O'Neill habitat. Though experience with a moon base *might* demonstrate that roughly lunar gravity is enough for human health.
Kaor, Jim!
I am not entirely sure the Moon's gravity will be adequate for long term human health--due to issues such as loss of bone density. Also, in THE STARS ARE ALSO FIRE Anderson speculated pregnant women were not able to carry babies full term due to the low gravity of the Moon. But an O'Neill habitat orbiting the Moon could be used for both kinds of possible problems.
Ad astra! Sean
I don't expect lunar gravity to be adequate for human health, but until we have humans living there for months or years we won't *know*. It could turn out either way.
Kaor, Jim!
Absolutely! There should have been permanent bases on the Moon 30/35 years ago--which would have been possible using Apollo era tech. We would have known the answers to these and many other questions long ago.
Maybe the threat of China seizing the Moon will finally jerk the US out of its lassitude! And I know SpaceX also hopes to get to the Moon.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment