If you were in a large pressurized dome on the Moon, could you strap some wings on and fly?

Question

Since gravity on the Moon is 1/6 Earth's, could you fly if a large stadium sized pressurized dome was provided and you had large paddles or wings you could strap on? This would make a great tourist attraction. I read a proposal for the first space hotel. It would have a pool which would just be a big ball of water, easy to do in zero g. You could dive in one side and come out the other !

Answer 1

That's something I had never thought of, but I'll bet it would be possible in that very low gravity.  In the absence of a Holodeck, it would be a fun way to entertain yourself.

Answer 2

you know what? I don't know but you sure got an interesting for the BEST QUESTION I EVER HEARD..

And if by chance you EVER decide to open one of these ring me up, I will HELP for free as long as I got to come to the Grand Opening for this.

sounds fun.

But the insurance sounds like it might be.... out of this world ;) for something like that.

Thanks for the visual.

Answer 3

Yes, you could. Would be rather a short travel though. Mars would be cooler to do such things, as the atmosphere is still dense enough to allow sailing planes - and you have 6 km cliffs around to jump from.

Also such a pool of water will be quite annoying actually, so you can expect it to be science fiction for a longer time. The problem is, that basic mechanism like convection don't work in space. You would not only need complex logistics to bring the water to the space station, you would also need lot's of bad work to make it stay in place, keep a good temperature and help you dry afterwards.

Answer 4

I think you could make pressurized air jet packs and then with a good jump you could fly around with that....that would be fun!. With a large enough dome, you could re-invent the olympics. But the billions and billions of dollars it would cost would preclude such activities ahead of research for a long time.  I think it would be more fun to swim in a pool on Earth, than a bubble of water in space.

Answer 5

Yes you could. You'd need a wingspan os about 2 meters (1 meter per arm), but the wings wouldn't have to be as large and rigid as a delta-wing is here on Earth. They could actually be attached to your arms so you could take off flipping them like any bird does!

Ironically, Arthur C. Clarke does have a scene like the one you decribe in his novel "3001: Final Oddisey"... But the characters ain't on the Moon: they're in a tower 36,000 kilometers height that connects the land (on Earth) with a geosincronic ring spaceport.

Answer 6

People with a gymnast's build (slender but strong) might be able to do something like that. But remember that one-sixth of 150 pounds is still 25 pounds, and the flier will have to throw down that much air to keep himself airborne. If part of the dome had a strong updraft, it might push the fliers aloft, and once there were high they might could just glide around the dome until they landed.