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"I share the view of Pythagoras that the world is number. The ultimate substrate of the universe is math. There's no way to test that - it's pure metaphysical speculation."
- Bart Kosko
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| Dust-Cruiser | ||
| Specialized lunar transport able to negotiate dust-filled craters on the Moon. |
At the edge of a great (fictional) lunar expanse called the Sea of Thirst, the dust is many feet deep. What would be the best means of transportation?
| Selene was virtually a grounded spaceship; she had to be, since she was traveling in a vacuum... Though she never left the surface of the Moon, and was propelled by electric motors instead of rockets, she carried all the equipment of a full-fledged ship of space...
Selene was the very first of her line... some had wanted to make her like a stern-wheeler, but the more efficient submerged fans carried the day. As they drilled through the dust, they produced a wake like that of a high-speed mole, but it vanished within seconds, leaving the Sea unmarked by any signs of the boat's passage. |
| Technovelgy from A Fall of Moondust,
by Arthur C. Clarke. Published by Harcourt, Brace and World in 1961 Additional resources -
|
As it turns out, it is unlikely that any boats will be needed on the Moon; the lunar dust appears to be no more than a few centimeters thick anywhere on the Moon.
Compare to the volplane from Blood of the Moon (1936) by Ray Cummings and to the vacuum tractor from Moonwalk (1952) by HB Fyfe.
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"The robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again...'
'There was a wall ahead... It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'...support the interior human structure against Jupiter’s pull.'
'Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray...'
'The German chemists have discovered how to supply the needed elements in compact, undiluted form...'
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