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back to article Skiing tops bunny hopping in lunar races

Future lunar explorers should learn cross country skiing so they can explore the surface of the moon faster and with less effort. Dr Harrison Schmitt, the ex-Apollo crew member making the recommendations, isn't suggesting that lunar landers carry skis with them, but that they learn to propel themselves forward, in the same way …

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  1. regadpellagru

    Which cross-country technique ?

    I know you guys at Vulture Central have currently

    less snow 500 miles around your location than one

    could find in the south part of the Tenere desert, but

    which cross-country skiing technique does the bloke

    speak about ?

    Alternative, where both skiis stay parallel and one relies on

    the scales carved on the surface of ths skis, in order

    to move ?

    Or skating where it's basically the same as ice-skating ?

    Surely, some explanation would be needed, and would

    prevent my poor brain from figuring out how on earth

    (so to speak), one would skate on the moon !

    Cheers from Haut-Jura in France.

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  2. Alan Simpson

    Re: Which cross-country technique ?

    As he says that actual skis would not be required I would assume he means the latter.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Suggested by Robert Heinlein 50 years ago.

    I can't remember the title of the story at the moment but Heinlein suggested this technique in a story written in the 50's . Heinlein did suggest using actual ski's though.

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  4. Mike Babulic

    re: Which cross-country technique ?

    Based on the description and my experience as a former ski racer, it's the first technique: also called "classic" skiing. It is NOT the second technique (skating). When classic skiiing you shift all your weight to one leg and kick it backwards, finishing on the toe. On the moon, this push down and kick back would throw you into the air and forward. A "skating" astronaut would move from side-to-side more than he would move forward.

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