Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Six-Legged Robot Lunar Bases Change Everything
The ATHLETE (All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer) could form the basis for new lunar bases. NASA engineers are testing two prototypes in Pasadena, CA.
The 15 ton lunar habitat would be mounted on top of the six-legged robot. The habitat could walk right off of the lunar lander, and then proceed to any desired location. Wheeled locomotion would be used for level ground; more challenging terrain could be negotiated with the full use of the flexible legs.
(ATHLETE carries lunar habitat)
The six-legged robot habitat could then be controlled directly by astronauts; mission control could also direct the habitat from Earth. My favorite alternative, an autonomous robot habitat, is also slated for testing. It would use software developed for the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity.
The robot habitat would move around using power drawn from solar arrays; the maximum speed is about 10 km/hour. Although this seems slow, remember that the Moon's circumference is just 11,000 kilometers (compared to Earth's circumference of 40,000 km). Astronauts would live a nomadic existence, covering much more of the lunar surface.
Abandoning the idea of a fixed lunar base would be a huge shift for NASA (and maybe the rest of us). Instead, astronauts would lead a nomadic existence; this would let them cover vastly more ground in exploration.
Even better, the robot habitat could even help out; take a look at this video of the ATHLETE robot attaching tools to its flexible legs Transformer-style.
The ATHLETE-based lunar habitat reminds me of two science-fictional devices. Jack Vance wrote about a walking fort in his 1964 novel The Killing Machine:
He wanted Patch to design and construct a walking fort in the semblance of a monster centipede, seventy-six feet long and twelve feet high. The mechanism was to consist of eighteen segments, each equiped with a pair of legs...
(Read more about the walking fort)
Perhaps it might resemble this crab fort drawn by Daniel Dociu:
(Daniel Dociu's crab fort)
In terms of movement, it reminded me of the slow-but-steady steel tortoise, from Robert Heinlein's 1940 novella Coventry; this vehicle was also solar powered, and crawled along at a top speed of just six miles per hour.
This is a big change from the static location moon base; this idea has been a staple of science-fictional Moon exploration since the moon domes of Ray Cummings 1931 novel Brigands of the Moon.
Via NewScientist.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/5/2008)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 6 )
Related News Stories - (" Space Tech ")
Elon Musk Wants Data Centers In Space
'Internally it’s made up of millions of components, but the most important ones are the thinking and memory parts of the Mind proper.' - Iain Banks, 1987.
ISS Plagued By Leak - Again!
'There were perhaps a dozen bladder-like objects in the tunnel...' - Robert Heinlein, 1948.
Sunbird Pulsar Fusion Like Leinster's Space Tug
'It was a pushpot, which could not possibly be called a jet plane because it could not possibly fly. Only it did.' - Murray Leinster, 1953.
Crystalline Structures In Space, You Say?
A massive space borne lifeform from ST:TNG.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
AI Operates An Excavator
'So far as I could see, the thing was without a directing Martian at all.'
US Army IBEX Exoskeleton Walks Troops Out Of Danger
'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.'
Boy Makes Biomimetic Turtle Robot
't came out into plain view. Darkington glimpsed a slim body and six short legs of articulated dull metal.'
Elon Musk Wants Data Centers In Space
'Internally it’s made up of millions of components, but the most important ones are the thinking and memory parts of the Mind proper.'
Origin F1 Humanoid Robot's Facial Skin
'I could look down at that face of carefully molded synthetic rubber, tinted the exact shade of the doctor's living flesh.'
Grok And The City Fathers From 'Cities In Flight' By James Blish
'Chris, the City Fathers are not interested in your welfare; I suppose you know that. They're interested in only one thing: the survival of the city.'
Why Not Move A Warehouse District?
'Did you never see a moving house before?'
Will An AI Found A New Religion?
'You must decide how you will worship Me.'
Terraformer Industries Make Methane
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'
I Need An Outdoor Spherical Display
'Usually a spherical display hovered in the centre...'
Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'
Muxcard Redditor's DIY Credit Card-Sized Computer
It's a computer, but just barely.
'Soft Assembly' Fashions That Fashion Themselves On The Wearer
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
Orwell's Nightmare Of AI-Written Novels Comes To Pass
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
ISS Plagued By Leak - Again!
'There were perhaps a dozen bladder-like objects in the tunnel...'
Ridiculous 'Ghost Murmur' Tech Still Science Fiction
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'
