# Tag Info

4

From conversations I have personally had with people who work in the Medical and Psychological divisions at the Johnson Space Center, the use of the term privatization is less about securing the connection, as making sure that nobody can physically eavesdrop on the conversations. The astronaut on the space station goes to a module where they are alone, so ...

1

There is some misconception involved in the phrasing of the question. Take a look at the ideal gas law: $$\frac{pV}{nT}=\rm constant$$ $p$: pressure; $V$: volume; $n$ amount of substance ("mass" of the gas); $T$: temperature What you need to do in order to increase the swimability is to increase the density, which is the ratio $\frac{n}{V}$. ...

3

To improve swimmability, we need to increase gas density, not gas pressure - although both are related, it would be ideal to increase the former without increasing the latter. Density of fluids can be increased by solids in suspension, as can be shown by hot pyroclastic flows denser than colder clean air. In Earth solids in suspension tend to settle due to ...

20

Would a higher air pressure on the ISS or elsewhere make it easier to “swim” in microgravity? Yes! But what's really important is the density, so instead of pressuring "normal air" you can just make a denser atmospheric mixture and keep the pressure the same. This answer says If you want the air to be 5 times easier to swim, you can just replace ...

3

If you want the air to be 5 times easier to swim, you can just replace the nitrogen with xenon and increase the density without increasing pressure.

12

Partial answer to "Is it a proposal space agencies should consider?" Unlikely. Increasing the differential pressure by a factor of 5 would mean that the modules would have to be quite a bit stronger and therefore presumably costlier and/or heavier. (As pointed out in this other answer) If getting marooned in midair is a constant problem (AFAIK it ...

2

The astronauts would get nitrogen narcosis even worse than in 40 m deep water breathing air. In both cases the gas pressure is 5 bar, but under water the partial pressure of nitrogen is 3.95 bar but in the spaceship 4.79 bar. This is equivalent to about 50 m deep water breathing air. See Wikipedia for signs and symptoms of the narcosis. These symptoms would ...

Top 50 recent answers are included