NationStates Jolt Archive

So, suppose you're a devout Muslim heading off on a Mars mission. Your spaceship is rotating to give the astronauts on board some sort of gravity. What direction should you pray towards? Or does it matter?

There, a post not involving bodily fluids, vegans, or buttloads of nickels. Are we happy yet?

in an airlock timed to open into the void of space in about 5 seconds.

would rotating give you gravity??

It probably won't be an issue considering the lack of scientific and technological research in the muslim world. Why do they have so many people with university degrees in religion? Why aren't a higher proportion of advanced degrees in muslim nations issued for science and engineering, fields that can actually help them?

there goes capitalists!

I still haven't heard how to resolve the whole Mecca question, there guys...any suggestions other than the airlock boogie Joey P'd like to see?

would rotating give you gravity??

Yes, the centrifugal "force" would act as a kind of artificial gravity.

i think you would pray DOWN. supposing that the "top" of the ship were pointing away from the earth, the "bottom" would be pointing towards earth (kinda) and thus be pointing toward mecca, esp as you got farther and farther away from earth.

i think you would pray DOWN. supposing that the "top" of the ship were pointing away from the earth, the "bottom" would be pointing towards earth (kinda) and thus be pointing toward mecca, esp as you got farther and farther away from earth.

What if neither the top nor the bottom were aligned with earth, would muslim spaceships have to change orientation every few hours so people could pray?

Ahh centrifugal i understand maybe they turn themselfs spin at the same speed

i guess theyll pray toward earth, the further away they are from mecca, the less accurate they have to pray ;-). btw not al muslims are underdevelopped, lots of smart ones around too, just silly sterotype people use.

Even if the modern situation is different in some ways, it's interesting to remember that the Muslim world is responsible for preserving a lot of the scientific knowledge we have from before the Middle Ages. The astronomy question is also an interesting one considering that Islamic scholars were responsible for naming so many of the stars (Aldebaran, Algol, Rasalgethi, among many others). I think that they'd figure out a way to locate Earth and Mecca, regardless of where they were. I'd think there would be navigation devices that could serve such a purpose.

i guess theyll pray toward earth, the further away they are from mecca, the less accurate they have to pray ;-). btw not al muslims are underdevelopped, lots of smart ones around too, just silly sterotype people use.
It's a generalization that tends to hold true in most cases.

would rotating give you gravity??


Not exactly, but the centrifugal force would give the illusion by creating a force pulling you in one directing - assuming, of course, that the outer edge was the "floor". Otherwise it would be incredibly confusing.

They utilized this principle in Ender's Game. You should read it.

Would they just pray towards the Earth in both 'pseudo-relative-elevation' and bearing? (To stay in communication with Earth, they'd have to constantly calculate it anyways.)
It'd be impossible to aim for a specific continient (let alone a single site like Mecca) when a deviation of 0.6 degrees would mean he or she is praying pointed at the cosmos?

JiangGuo

Now, as far as I can gather, Mecca was designated as the focus of prayer because it is believed to be the site of the first shrine to Allah on Earth, made by Adam. So, you can either determine the most accurate way to point at Earth, or you can use the first (Presumably Muslim) place of worship on that planet. Not that I'd know, I'm just using logic.

Even if the modern situation is different in some ways, it's interesting to remember that the Muslim world is responsible for preserving a lot of the scientific knowledge we have from before the Middle Ages. The astronomy question is also an interesting one considering that Islamic scholars were responsible for naming so many of the stars (Aldebaran, Algol, Rasalgethi, among many others). I think that they'd figure out a way to locate Earth and Mecca, regardless of where they were. I'd think there would be navigation devices that could serve such a purpose.

Don't forget that it was muslim civilization that came up with algebra and the square root of 2,among other accomplishments.

Don't forget that it was muslim civilization that came up with algebra and the square root of 2,among other accomplishments.
I recently read that algebra was invented by the hindu slave of an arab.

Don't forget that it was muslim civilization that came up with algebra
All the more reason to kill them then.
OMFG ALG3BR4 SUXXORS!!!1!1!!!

Now that I've got that out of my system . . .

Muslims don't have to point directly at Mecca, that becomes inpracticle at a certain point, they just have to point in the general direction. Pointing directly at Mecca now would require a lot of tricky math (how many degrees downward so that you are facing through the earth, for example). Eventually, it will probably just be reformed down to something less strenuous, all religions lighten up as time goes by, and simply trying to point at Mecca will get you your daily allotment of Prayer Points.