🛰️ Spinning for Gravity: Rotating Space Habitats
A ring or twin-cylinder space station spins about its hub to manufacture artificial gravity through centripetal force — tune the radius and RPM and watch crew comfort, gravity level and the Coriolis effect respond live.
A ring or cylinder space station spins about its central hub, and everything standing on its inner wall is thrown "downward" against the floor by centripetal acceleration — manufactured gravity from rotation alone. This simulation lets you dial in a station's real radius and spin rate and watch the physics — and the human comfort trade-offs — play out in 3D.
🔬 What It Demonstrates
Spin gravity follows a = ω²R: the floor pushes back with more "weight" as radius or rotation rate increases. The head-to-foot gravity gradient and the Coriolis deflection experienced moving from the zero-g hub toward the rim are both computed from real orbital-engineering formulas, not approximated.
🎮 How to Use
Drag the radius and RPM sliders to see spin gravity, rim speed and a crew-comfort rating update instantly. Switch between a single rotating ring and a twin O'Neill-style cylinder, then hit "Drop test object" to launch a marker from the hub and see exactly how far the Coriolis effect carries it from its target as the station spins beneath it.
💡 Did You Know?
Engineers generally target 2–4 RPM as the comfort sweet spot — fast enough to keep the station a manageable size, slow enough that the inner ear doesn't fight the Coriolis forces produced every time someone turns their head. Doubling a habitat's radius lets you halve the spin rate for the same 1g, which is why serious O'Neill-cylinder proposals run kilometres across.
A spinning ring or twin-cylinder space habitat where centripetal acceleration (a = ω²R) stands in for gravity, with live stats for spin-gravity level, rim speed, head-to-foot gravity gradient, crew comfort rating, and a physically computed Coriolis deflection demo.
3D · Three.js / WebGL · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install