Moonbus
Encyclopedia
A moonbus is a hypothetical small, light-duty VTOL
(vertical take-off and landing) spacecraft
designed primarily for short-range low-altitude point-to-point ferrying of people and supplies on a moon
. A moonbus "flies" over terrain by regulating downward thrusters to counter the moon's gravity while using horizontal thrusters or angling downward thrust to move over the moon's surface. While plausible, this seems to be more trouble than it would be worth in actual practice. Given the moon's low gravity, it would be far easier to simply plot sub-orbital trajectories which would be far safer and require less supervision from pilots. Currently no practical moonbuses exist for lack of applicability. The first specific depiction of a moonbus appeared in the science fiction
movie 2001: A Space Odyssey
(Kubrick
, 1968).
VTOL
A vertical take-off and landing aircraft is one that can hover, take off and land vertically. This classification includes fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as cyclogyros/cyclocopters and tiltrotors...
(vertical take-off and landing) spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
designed primarily for short-range low-altitude point-to-point ferrying of people and supplies on a moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
. A moonbus "flies" over terrain by regulating downward thrusters to counter the moon's gravity while using horizontal thrusters or angling downward thrust to move over the moon's surface. While plausible, this seems to be more trouble than it would be worth in actual practice. Given the moon's low gravity, it would be far easier to simply plot sub-orbital trajectories which would be far safer and require less supervision from pilots. Currently no practical moonbuses exist for lack of applicability. The first specific depiction of a moonbus appeared in the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
movie 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
(Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
, 1968).