Linked Questions
11 questions linked to/from Tiny emergency propulsive device if stuck floating in a large volume in microgravity
32
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Can you turn in space without propulsion?
Say an astronaut is floating perfectly still inside their spaceship. Can they rotate themselves by stretching out their arms and twisting one way, then pulling in their arms to their sides and ...
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21
votes
3
answers
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How best to maneuver inside a large room within a space station using only arm and leg motion?
Imagine the following thought experiment:
An astronaut is inside an extremely large room within a space station. Suppose that she, for whatever reason, is initially at a zero velocity with respect ...
- 1,994
17
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6
answers
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Would a higher air pressure on the ISS or elsewhere make it easier to "swim" in microgravity?
What if the atmospheric pressure onboard the ISS was 5 atm, 5 times the pressure on Earth and currently on the ISS, while maintaining the breathable oxygen level, e.g. if the additional atmosphere ...
- 2,233
43
votes
2
answers
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Can fish really live in microgravity without water?
Yes, you read that title correctly. I saw the claim in "Colonies in Space", hosted on the NSS site.
In a weightless space farm, it may be possible to raise fish without water. On Earth, when a ...
- 16.3k
16
votes
3
answers
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Can you swim in space?
My wife shared this picture with me today:
Adorable, but it got me thinking about that trope - swimming in space.
I've seen it before, mostly in cartoons and not live-action shows, the latter of ...
- 262
7
votes
2
answers
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What's the specific impulse of a human farts/urination?
I was curious about how effective farting/urination would be as a propulsion system, but I couldn't find any data on the specific impulse of human farts/urination. Could you actually get a couple of ...
- 191
2
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3
answers
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Can a human body change direction when floating in a space without gravity?
Suppose I am in the center of a hypothetical 4mx4m room and there is no gravity. I am wearing a spacesuit with no means of propulsion (e.g. venting, ejecting, etc..).
Would I be able to reach "the ...
- 21
8
votes
1
answer
642
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Can (human) gas propel someone in a contained space station?
I am NOT trying to be lewd, but I had a student ask this. Yes, she may have been tongue-in-cheek, but I promised to answer her. And yes, I am trying to keep this as practical as possible.
If and ...
- 2,911
1
vote
1
answer
367
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Can an astronaut stand at attention in the ISS?
Am I correct in assuming it is near impossible for astronauts to stand still inside the ISS, even if their feet are secured under a blue IVA rail?
NASA astronauts Terry Virts' foot under a blue IVA ...
- 6,907
3
votes
1
answer
166
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What is the acceleration in an orbit decaying due to air resistance relative to one not decaying?
This answer to Is there an upper limit for the internal size of space stations? has this paragraph:
Finally, if you are stuck ["stranded" in the middle of a room in a space station filled ...
0
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1
answer
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What is the difference between "body drag", "frictional drag" and "pressure drag" for astronaut or aerobot atmospheric locomotion in microgravity?
Complaints below my answer to Would a higher air pressure on the ISS or elsewhere make it easier to “swim” in microgravity? about my spherical-cow estimate of how fast an astronaut can accelerate by &...
- 148k