On: How to tame an ornithopter

[cwkoss]

If we ever successfully colonize the moon, the recreational activity I'm most excited for is being able to fly by flapping wings attached to your arms in pressurized domes (or spheres, if near a space elevator instead).

We aren't strong enough to fly with artificial wings on earth gravity, but it seems like moon gravity could work pretty well.

(I think this idea is from an Arthur C Clarke novel?)

[fernly → cwkoss]

Robert Heinlein, "The Menace From Earth"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Menace_from_Earth

sorry, should have refreshed the page oftener...

[perilunar → cwkoss]

> We aren't strong enough to fly with artificial wings on earth gravity

So what? Just use a lightweight powered exoskeleton to augment your strength. It will likely happen decades before pressurised domes on the moon, too.

[_ph_ → cwkoss]

Heinlein :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Menace_from_Earth

[cwkoss → _ph_]

Thanks! I think I read a different short story that used this idea, but it seems Menace from Earth likely predated the one I read - probably the first instance of this idea in print?

[Fnoord → cwkoss]

Before I opened this page, I was thinking about Dune 2 and the book Dune (Atreides used ornithopters).