A feasibility study of an artificial gravity system

Future crewed space exploration targets ambitious and distant destinations, requiring long duration missions that may largely affect the astronauts’ health condition. To limit these effects, spacecraft will require additional solutions for the support of human safety, health and quality of life. Among those, artificial gravity might introduce a disruptive development to allow manned space exploration to achieve broader frontiers, reducing bone and muscle deterioration, motion sickness, and fluid redistribution. This work proposes the preliminary design of a rotating gravity system developed to support long-duration manned missions with a healthy living environment for human comfort. The design problem considers different aspects of the possible missions: it includes the identification of key design drivers and mission requirements, along with the exploration and assessment of possible system architectures accounting for deployment and operation constraints. The design process relies on the use of Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) methodologies to account for the interaction of multiple disciplines at the conceptual stage, and to benefit from this knowledge for the identification of the best design solutions for the rotating gravity system. This approach allows to evaluate the effect of several design choice at an early stage into the system development, to inform critical trade-off decisions and determine the feasibility of such a system with technology available today or in the near future. Keywords: Artificial gravity, Multidisciplinary Design Optimization, Optimization.