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Comment by planktonite | Hacker News Reader

There’s an under appreciated problem with spinning space stations: they would be set off balance by uneven distribution of weight around the ring. This would make small scale rings a bit problematic because people and stuff need to move around. Rings the size of halo would have enough mass that the movement of people wouldn’t be enough to matter.

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Could possibly use some sort of active control system of counter masses, like water in a lattice of piping.

In the book/TV series "The Expanse", they actually spin up massive asteroids and live inside tunnels, effectively like a ring but made of rock, to offset the fact that it doesn't have enough gravity otherwise. Neat concept, although will likely end in failure.

In reality those asteroids would tear themselves to pieces when spun up.

It also acts as a radiation shield

An issue with larger rings is that the downforce felt around the ring would vary based on your position within a segment. While it would be a more subtle gradient than a smaller ring, and so less nauseating, it would mean that living and working space would vary in terms of perceived gravity. Another problem is transportation, with the fastest way to cross the ring being across a “spoke” with a gravitational gradient that goes to zero and back. To be fair that could also be a benefit, if people can get used to it.

You don't want rings, you want O'Neill cylinders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Neill_cylinder

I really, really do. I’d also like a side of Dyson Swarms, hold the butter. Seriously, how amazing would an O’Neill cylinder be? People live inside, and outside you’d have industries using the vacuum to do things that would cost a fortune on Earth.

Just a teensy little upfront investment is required, but with SpaceX it might not be so crazy someday soon. If the cost per kilo into orbit drops enough, a lot of sci-fi could become real; not the Dyson swarm, but orbital habitats and industries sure could.

Arthur C Clarke and 'Rendezvous with Rama' seems suspiciously absent from discussion about "O'Niell" cylinders :P

And if you got in a car and drove against the direction of spin you would become lighter. While if you went with the direction of spin you would become heavier.

Does it really matter if the axis of spin is in the exact center for a space station? The station would wobble, but would you feel it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrLey-pX7Bc

There's also a few problems with Halo sized rings.

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