This artist’s conception from the 1970s shows the interior of an O’Neill cylinder. (Credit: NASA)
The O'Neill cylinder is theoretical construction of the space station or spacecraft which involves an environment that looks like Earth. There are plantations, houses, and other things that are on Earth. But everything has been made in the rotating cylinder. The centripetal force is making the artificial gravitation inside the cylinder. And that allows the crew to live as they would live on Earth. So that's why the O'Neill cylinder is called the "artificial Earth".
The creator of that idea Gerard O'Neill introduced that there is a small city in the cylinder. The idea is that the O'Neill cylinder would work as the platform for benefiting the resources of the entire solar system. And maybe that kind of system would make humans travel to another solar system. The question is how that kind of system would get its electric supply? The answer would be the nuclear reactor or fusion power. The problem is that the normal fission reactor would need new fuel after every five years.
Fusion energy is complicated to produce. But there is always possible to use the generator for making electricity for the artificial world. In that system, there is spacecraft that is connected to the generator. Then the craft orbit around that point. That thing makes the generator rotate and it would make the electricity to the entire space station. Or the cores of the cylinder are turned to the induction generator.
In the middle of the rotating cylinder would put the rotor. And to the core is installed the stator. That turns the rotating cylinder itself into the generator. The O'Neill cylinder would be an enormous thing. That means the forces that are affecting this structure are enormous. So there is the possibility that the centripetal forces are ripping that megastructure in pieces.
Maybe that kind of space station is traveling in the solar system. And share goods and people to colonies that will establish to other planets and their moons. There is the possibility that the Mars craft would install rotating structures that are making it possible to grow vegetables in the space.
When we are thinking about the possibility to create artificial gravitation by using rotating structures. That would not mean that the entire craft must rotate if somewhere is growing vegetables. The parts that are rotating can also connect to other parts of the craft by using bearings. That means that only those parts that are needed for plantations are rotating. Which means the rotating masses are lower.
()https://space.nss.org/o-neill-cylinder-space-settlement/
Image():https://www.geekwire.com/2016/jeff-bezos-space-colonies-oneill/
()https://kimmoswritings.blogspot.com/
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