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"Science fiction operates a little bit like science itself, in principle. You've got thousands of people exploring ideas, putting forth their own hypotheses. Most of them are dead wrong; a few stand the test of time; everything looks kind of quaint in hind"
- Peter Watts
 |
| Moon Skis | ||
| Special wide skis for travel on lunar powder. |
Okay, Verne and others have discussed getting to the moon. But once you are there, how are you going to get around?
| Over the western horizon hung the Earth at last quarter, a green-blue giant moon...
MacIntyre bent down without a word and picked up the wide skis necessary to negotiate the powdery ash. Charlie followed his example. Then they swung the spare air bottles over their shoulders, and passed out through the lock. |
| Technovelgy from Requiem,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1940 Additional resources -
|
This is not as far-fetched as you think. Skiing on sand is done right here on Earth - it's all the rage in Dubai.
(Sand skiing on the dunes of Dubai)
Spend the morning skiing down the high dunes, with refreshments. On the way back to Dubai, enjoy dune bashing and camel riding.
Robert Heinlein also described moon skiing, an Eagle scout badge requirement, in his 1949 story Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon, published in Boy's Life.
(Cover of 'Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon' by Robert Heinlein)
(Moonskis in 'Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon' by Robert Heinlein)
(Pulling a toboggan on the moon in 'Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon' by Robert Heinlein)
(Side-step uphill skiing from 'Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon' by Robert Heinlein)
Apollo 17 geologist Harrison "Jack" Schmitt actually lamented "too bad I don't have my skis!" from the mountaneous Taurus Littrow Valley. Eventually, he perfected a kind of "lunar cross-country style" that worked like this:
"In the moon's low gravity, you can ski above the moondust--and I did. Imagine swinging your arms and legs cross-country style. With each push of your toe, your body glides forward above ground. Swing, glide, swing, glide. The only marks you leave in the moondust are the toe-pushes."
(From Jack Skis the Moon)
(Skiing on the Moon [Ulrich Lotzmann])
In his award-winning novel Dune, Frank Herbert spends a lot of time talking about how the native Fremen needed to walk across sand dunes so as not to attract the planet's giant sand worms. I wonder whether the sound of schussing would have been safe...
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Requiem
More Ideas
and Technology by Robert Heinlein
Tech news articles related to Requiem
Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein
Moon Skis-related
news articles:
- Skiing That Soft Lunar Powder
- Snowboarding On Mars? Heinlein Was Ready
- Skiing On The Moon - Skiing on Asteroids?
| Mechazilla Arms Catch A Falling Starship, But Check Out SF Landing-ARMS |
| Solar-Powered Space Trains On The Moon |
| JWST Finds Bucking Centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 |
| First Trips To Mars Announced By Elon Musk |
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'...the rocket’s landing-arms automatically unfolded.'
'...points and patches of light... sliding all over their faces in a programmed manner that had been designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
'...the combined Wind-Suncatcher, like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'
'I went to the control room where the three other men were manipulating their mechanical men.'
'The low-slung monorail car, straddling its single track, bored through the shadows on a slowly rising course.'
'It was a smooth ovoid floating a few inches from the floor...'
'... he thrust in his charging arm to replenish his store of energy.'
'...the terrible Jovian gravity that made each movement an effort.'
