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If we wish to colonize another world, finding a planet with a gravitational field that humans can survive and thrive under will be crucial. If its gravity is too strong our blood will be pulled down into our legs, our bones might break, and we could even be pinned helplessly to the ground.
Finding the gravitational limit of the human body is something that's better done before we land on a massive new planet. Now, in a paper published on the pre-print server arXiv, three physicists, claim that the maximum gravitational field humans could survive long-term is four-and-a-half times the gravity on Earth.
Or, at least you could if you are an Icelandic strongman – and Game of Thrones monster – who can walk with more than half a metric ton on your back. For mere mortals, the researchers say, it would need to be a little weaker.
[...] For the maximum gravity at which we could take a step, the team turned to Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, an Icelandic strongman who once walked five steps with a 1430 pound log on his back, smashing a 1,000-year-old record[*].
[*] YouTube video.
What's the Maximum Gravity We Could Survive?
(Score: 2) by Arik on Sunday September 23 2018, @05:08AM
It would be a colossal waste of calories, yes. Much better to build it in orbit, using materials mined from space insofar as possible.
"I think it necessary to develop space mining, smelting, forging, and assembly, before we can build such a ship."
Precisely. And we knew that then, and we had the technology then. But not the funding. That would have to wait until we won the cold war.
So we won the cold war, where's that peace dividend? It could have paid for a full set of HOMEs and plenty of mining startups as well.
Nope, can't afford space exploration, not possible. (Quick, someone start another war!)
"I'll readily give you the point that, if we had launched space mining endeavors in 1970, we would now be 48 years closer to launching an interstellar ship today. For far too long, we've been hung up on that silly space plane, and the ISS. It's time, and past time, to move beyond a shuttle and a low orbit space camp for a privileged few."
Indeed. It's nothing but bread and circuses for the science-loving crowd, and I'm afraid we're not a very important demographic so there isn't even a lot of that.
We can't claim to have even begun a serious space program while the LaGrange points sit uninhabited.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?