![\"\"](\"https:\/\/16mhpx3atvadrnpip2kwi9or-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RASCAL-team.jpg\")
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The team at the RASC-AL competi\u200bti\u200bon in Cocoa Beach, Fla. Left to right: Jialing Tong, Gedi Minster,\u00a0Sriram Narayanan, David Barnhart,\u200b Alexander Chang and Jacob Inouye. Photo\/ NASA\/RASC-AL<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
While the reason to simulate the gravity of Mars was unspecified, Minster \u2013 the team\u2019s leader \u2013 postulates that its purpose is to get astronauts acclimated to the conditions on Mars prior to stepping on the red planet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe concern is that astronauts, after spending six months in interplanetary space, are going to land on Mars and they won\u2019t be able to function effectively,\u201d said Minster. \u201cThat\u2019s why we are creating artificial gravity \u2013 to get them ready during their long journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
After living in the zero-gravity environment aboard the International Space Station, when astronauts return to Earth it\u2019s difficult for them to move around. In addition to Earth\u2019s gravity, they have to readjust their sense of orientation and balance. It can take weeks before they are able to function normally \u2013 time that would be wasted by new explorers on Mars.<\/p>\n
To simulate gravity, the team, advised by Research Professor David Barnhart<\/a>, director of the Space Engineering Research Center<\/a> at USC\u2019s Information Sciences Institute<\/a>, designed a spaceship that spins. The rotation creates a pulling sensation towards the floor of the spacecraft that mimics the effects of gravity. In this case, the team calculated that their spacecraft would need to spin at the rate of about three rotations per minute to simulate the gravity of Mars, which is roughly 38 percent that of Earth\u2019s.<\/p>\n This method of creating artificial gravity is widely used in sci-fi movies and is currently the most technologically feasible option. \u201cBut exactly what you spin is one of the big design choices,\u201d Minster explained. The Viterbi team was the only one in the competition to choose to spin their entire spaceship. This let them avoid dealing with the tricky connectivity issues between rotating and stationary modules.<\/p>\n Their novel design included several features to accommodate the unique rotation. To maintain balance, they used a dynamic structure that retracts or extends to account for mass changes as fuel and resources are consumed. To maintain communications with Earth, they utilized proven antenna technology currently employed on NASA\u2019s MarCO spacecraft that moves electronically rather than mechanically and is able to orient the direction in milliseconds.<\/p>\n Finally, once the spaceship reaches its destination, they will convert the solar panels into \u201cparachutes\u201d to increase drag and gradually slow the vehicle without using expensive propulsion systems, a method called \u201caerobraking\u201d that is used by the European Space Agency and Russia\u2019s Roscosmos ExoMars orbiter.<\/p>\n To ensure the success of their project, the engineers, consisting of both graduate and undergraduate students from the Department of Astronautical Engineering<\/a> and the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering<\/a>, worked with reviewers from NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and scientists from ESA\u2019s ExoMars team. They also collaborated with students from the USC School of Architecture<\/a> to design their poster and the USC School of Cinematic Arts<\/a> to create the following video directed and edited by Jono Seneff.<\/p>\n They plan on presenting their work at the International Astronautical Conference in Germany this October.
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