If you can't make it to the Moon this year, this might be the next best thing. It's an amusement ride that provides a crude simulation of a reduced gravity environment. Imagine a fairly tall tower shaped somewhat like a gallows. There's a winch at the base, and it pulls on a cable that goes up the tower, through a pair of pulleys at the top of the tower, and back down to the ground, where it can be attached to a harness.
After they calibrate the winch controller to your weight, you slip on the harness and they turn the winch on. It pulls you up with a force equal to some fraction of your weight--say, about 2/3 to simulate Mars, or 5/6 for the Moon. If you're feeling really daring, you can get them to turn it up all the way to 99% and see how high you could go if you only weighed a pound or two. Then all you have to do is jump!-- ytk, Oct 16 2009 NASA technical note on various low g simulators http://ntrs.nasa.go...6856_1970016856.pdf [ldischler, Oct 16 2009] Reduced gravity simulator photo http://mm04.nasaima...up=nasa&profileid=9 [ldischler, Oct 16 2009] Bungee Trampoline http://www.bungeetrampoline.com/Bungee-assisted trampoline jumping. Looks like a lot of fun. [jutta, Oct 16 2009] Three gantries and winches will be needed, thus allowing the jumper no only to move in the vertical plane, but also - within limits - to move around the "arena".
While this will simulate the effect of some aspects of lower gravity, the brain's perception of downforce will be unaltered; this will not be "free fall".
But it sounds intriguing. [+]-- 8th of 7, Oct 16 2009 This sounds very derivative of the bungie type systems used for "American Gladiator" and other similar shows though I guess the mechanism is different enough. This is also certainly baked by Cirque du Soleil, but that doesn't mean it's generally known or even available. I'm still undecided.-- MisterQED, Oct 16 2009 It's an amusement park attraction (see link), but I've never actually seen one up close.-- jutta, Oct 16 2009 ytk's idea sounds more like a flying harness, than a bungee system.
Flying harnesses are used in plays (think Peter Pan), tv, movies, etc., to produce the effect of a person flying.
One problem I foresee is that if your weight is reduced enough, you might jump, and continue rising until you smash into the pulley at the top.-- goldbb, Oct 18 2009 Well, you could set up a system of locks to prevent the user from getting too close to the walls and ceiling.
Or wear a helmet!-- DrWorm, Oct 19 2009 (+) I like it, but does it remind anyone else of 'counter ballance world'?
Where did that go anyway?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 19 2009 random, halfbakery