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Cool Tinsley Lunar Unicycle Update
In the 1950's, pulp artist and illustrator Frank Tinsley created a marvelous device - a Lunar Unicyle, a single-wheeled vehicle for exploring the Moon.
(Tinsley Lunar Unicycle)
This unique take on a lunar rover was another idea from Frank Tinsley and the ARMA Corporation, dating back to 1959. It was designed to conduct an initial survey of the lunar surface. A giant ball with tire-like treads wrapped both vertically and horizontally on the sphere for gripping the moon’s surface would help move the unicycle around. An umbrella-like overhang of solar panels would collect power from the sun and power the unicycle during rover exploration. There were even living quarters incorporated into the plans to accommodate explorers conducting long-term missions outside of the temporary lunar base. The concept for this proposed rover prototype was conceived with the assumption that humankind would have colonized the moon before the 1980s.
In our time, @runnymonkey (aka NickStevens Graphics) has updated this image magnificently.
And the finished image.
— NickStevens Graphics (@runnymonkey) February 28, 2018
Tinsley's Lunar Unicycle finds the #soviet Luna 9 soft lander.
Irregular terrain to break up shadows, tracks painted in by hand. pic.twitter.com/MD6Nye9laX
Technovelgy readers know how much I enjoy the mental picture painted by the printed word; check out the lunocycle from The Rolling Stones (1952) and the moon skis (1939), both stories by Robert Heinlein, of course.
Via Discover Magazine.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 2/20/2018)
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Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
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