5 ms·

maybe they should build moon landers this shape :-)

by boznz 1y ago

tgbugs 1y ago
That is indeed the example they mention in the paper https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.19244 https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.19244.
orbisvicis 1y ago
Per the article that's what they're working on, but it probably won't be based on tetrahedrons considering the density distribution. Might have curved surfaces.
- bennydony826 1y ago
  [flagged]
gerdesj 1y ago
Or aeroplanes. Not sure where you put the wings. Why restrict yourself to the Moon?
- Cogito 1y ago
  Recent moonlanders have been having trouble landing on the moon. Some are just crashing, but tipping over after landing is a real problem too. Hence the joke above :)
  - gerdesj 1y ago
    Mars landers have also had a chequered history. I remember one NASA jobbie that had a US to metric units conversion issue and poor old Beagle 2 that got there, landed safely and then failed to deploy properly.
weq 1y ago
Just need to apply this to a drone, and we would be one step closer to skynet. The props could retract into the body when it detects a collision or a fall.
emporas 1y ago
They could do that, but a regular gomboc would be totally fine. There are no rules for spaceships that their corners cannot be rounded. Maybe exoskeletons for turtles could be more useful. Turtles with their short legs, require the bottom of their shell to be totally flat, and a gomboc has no flat surface. Vehicles that drive on slopes could benefit from that as well.
- waste_monk 1y ago
  >There are no rules for spaceships that their corners cannot be rounded. Someone should write to UNOOSA and get this fixed up.
- nextaccountic 1y ago
  Note that a turtle's shell already approximate a Gömböc shape (the curved self-righting shape discovered by the same mathematician in the linked article) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6mb%C3%B6c#Relation_to_animals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6mb%C3%B6c#Relation_to_a... But yeah a specially designed exoskeleton could perform better, kinda like the prosthetics of Oscar Pistorious
  - fruitplants 1y ago
    Gábor Domokos (mentioned in the article) talked about this on one QI episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggUHo1BgTak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggUHo1BgTak
- voidUpdate 1y ago
  > There are no rules for spaceships that their corners cannot be rounded If the inside is pressurized, its even beneficial for it to be a rounded shape, since the sharp corners are more likely to fail
ErigmolCt 1y ago
"If tipped, will self-right" sounds like exactly the kind of feature you'd want on the Moon
- shdon 1y ago
  And for cows
mihaaly 1y ago
They will only need to ensure that the pointy end does not penetrate the soft surface too much on decent, becoming an eternal pole.

maybe they should build moon landers this shape :-)

by boznz 1y ago

maybe they should build moon landers this shape :-)

tgbugs 1y ago

That is indeed the example they mention in the paper https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.19244 https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.19244.

orbisvicis 1y ago

Per the article that's what they're working on, but it probably won't be based on tetrahedrons considering the density distribution. Might have curved surfaces.

bennydony826 1y ago
[flagged]

gerdesj 1y ago

Or aeroplanes. Not sure where you put the wings. Why restrict yourself to the Moon?

Cogito 1y ago
Recent moonlanders have been having trouble landing on the moon. Some are just crashing, but tipping over after landing is a real problem too. Hence the joke above :)
- gerdesj 1y ago
  Mars landers have also had a chequered history. I remember one NASA jobbie that had a US to metric units conversion issue and poor old Beagle 2 that got there, landed safely and then failed to deploy properly.

weq 1y ago

Just need to apply this to a drone, and we would be one step closer to skynet. The props could retract into the body when it detects a collision or a fall.

emporas 1y ago

They could do that, but a regular gomboc would be totally fine. There are no rules for spaceships that their corners cannot be rounded. Maybe exoskeletons for turtles could be more useful. Turtles with their short legs, require the bottom of their shell to be totally flat, and a gomboc has no flat surface. Vehicles that drive on slopes could benefit from that as well.

waste_monk 1y ago
>There are no rules for spaceships that their corners cannot be rounded. Someone should write to UNOOSA and get this fixed up.
nextaccountic 1y ago
Note that a turtle's shell already approximate a Gömböc shape (the curved self-righting shape discovered by the same mathematician in the linked article) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6mb%C3%B6c#Relation_to_animals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6mb%C3%B6c#Relation_to_a... But yeah a specially designed exoskeleton could perform better, kinda like the prosthetics of Oscar Pistorious
- fruitplants 1y ago
  Gábor Domokos (mentioned in the article) talked about this on one QI episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggUHo1BgTak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggUHo1BgTak
voidUpdate 1y ago
> There are no rules for spaceships that their corners cannot be rounded If the inside is pressurized, its even beneficial for it to be a rounded shape, since the sharp corners are more likely to fail

ErigmolCt 1y ago

"If tipped, will self-right" sounds like exactly the kind of feature you'd want on the Moon

shdon 1y ago
And for cows

mihaaly 1y ago

They will only need to ensure that the pointy end does not penetrate the soft surface too much on decent, becoming an eternal pole.