Ursain Bolt would be able to fly on Titan

[Arran]

According to an article, the fastest man on earth Ursain Bolt would be able to fly on Titan without an engine

http://www.nu.nl/wetenschap/3717545/usain-bolt-zou-kunnen-vliegen-saturnusmaan-titan-.html

Here is a link to the paper that is published about this

https://physics.le.ac.uk/journals/index.php/pst/article/download/625/420

What do you think, and what if these conditions where on earth could we fly from Europe to the USA just with a wingsuit. That would be cool if you ask me

I wonder how long and how high he would be able to fly, and IF he would be able even to get into a stable orbit

Edited March 4, 2014 by Arran

[Horn Brain]

Well he definitely wouldn't be able to get to orbit. That would require being able to gain about 2 km/s of speed from flapping (not to mention he would have to bring along a rocket motor to circularize at apoapsis). That requires the same kind of propulsive power as it would on Earth (gravity not important here).

As for how long he could fly, the method they were analyzing in the article was with a wingsuit. These are gliders with very bad L/D ratios. They can't be flapped for extra velocity. I would imagine he could fly a few tens of meters, then run a few steps and jump again.

What people are usually talking about when they say people could fly on Titan without engines is with a bird-like mechanical wing that they flap themselves with their arms. I imagine the calculation goes something like: "how much power does a bird need to keep up airspeed by flapping? Scale this to the weight, required speed, and density of flying in Titan's atmosphere to get the power required by a person at Titan. How much power can a person supply for a sustained length of time using their chest and arm muscles? Is it enough?"

So to really fly on Titan we need to build flapping wings.

[Hachouma]

So to really fly on Titan we need to build flapping wings.

Or a bicycle with wings

[sgt_flyer]

Bicycle with wings work on earth already

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Daedalus

[TechnicalK3rbal]

According to an article, the fastest man on earth Ursain Bolt would be able to fly on Titan without an engine

http://www.nu.nl/wetenschap/3717545/usain-bolt-zou-kunnen-vliegen-saturnusmaan-titan-.html

Here is a link to the paper that is published about this

https://physics.le.ac.uk/journals/index.php/pst/article/download/625/420

What do you think, and what if these conditions where on earth could we fly from Europe to the USA just with a wingsuit. That would be cool if you ask me

I wonder how long and how high he would be able to fly, and IF he would be able even to get into a stable orbit

That is, if he could run as fast in a spacesuit

[Whirligig Girl]

Most humans could flap their wings on Titan, but NO ONE could flap their wings into Titanian orbit.

[Awaras]

Reminds me of this:

http://what-if.xkcd.com/30/

[NGTOne]

An RTG-powered electric propellor plane with a large wingspan could conceivably fly for months, or even years, on Titan (assuming it wasn't wrecked by a weather system or something). Naturally, with a couple hours' speed-of-light delay, it would need some pretty decent autonomous flight systems (anyone want to refit a Predator drone with an RTG?), but I don't see it not being doable. Maybe use Cassini as a data uplink (like Curiosity uses the assorted Mars orbital probes today).