Study: Usain Bolt can fly on Saturn’s moon Titan

Study shows 100-metre superstar could fly on Saturn’s largest moon while wearing a wing suit

Leicester

(NSDV Sports)-Usain Bolt, the fastest man on Earth, is so fast that he could fly like a bird on Saturn’s moon Titan while wearing a wingsuit, according to a new study. The world-record holding sprinter, Bolt, has reached top speeds of 12.27 metres per second, which would be fast enough for him to take off on Titan while wearing a regular wingsuit.

Theoretically, the Olympic athlete would then be able to soar above the planet — without any need for propulsion, said researchers at the University of Leicester in the UK. Physics students at the university made the calculations in their final year paper for the Journal of Physics Special Topics, a peer-reviewed student journal run by the Leicester University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Titan is Saturn’s largest moon and has a dense nitrogen-rich atmosphere with a surface pressure almost 50 per cent stronger than Earth’s. As a result, it has long been predicted that humans would be able to lift off into the moon’s atmosphere if they were wearing wing-type devices on their arms. But now, the students have shown that it would even be possible with a regular wingsuit used by skydivers here on Earth — provided you could get a fast enough run up.

Streamline path

To calculate the speed needed, the group factored in the density of air at the surface of Titan; the acceleration due to gravity; an average wingsuit wing area (approximately 1.4 metres squared); and the ratio of the streamline path of the air above the aerofoil to that below the aerofoil.

They found that for a normal-sized wingsuit, a run up speed of 11 metres per second would be required. While not many people in the world can run at this speed, the fastest sprinters have been shown to reach top speeds above 11 metres per second. Usain Bolt has clocked top speeds of 12.27 metres per second, meaning he would be able to take off as he got to the finish line of a 100-metre race.

The students also found it might even be possible for those of us who can’t reach Bolt-like velocities to spread our arms and fly — but it would be a lot less comfortable, and we would look a lot dafter.

 

Running speed

The group found you would be able to take off with a more manageable running speed of six metres per second — as long as you were wearing a wingsuit with a surface area more than three times larger than a regular-sized.

This would be a lot more cumbersome, and the students were unsure whether it would even be feasible in practice.

“I had seen a lot of claims online that humans would be able to fly on Titan, but no one had given the physics behind it,” said student Hannah Lerman, 21, from Mill Hill, North London.

“I thought it would be interesting to try it with a wingsuit — something that you actually use on Earth. It is a really exciting idea that someone like Usain Bolt could actually fly unaided. It would give a whole new dimension to travelling,” Lerman said, adding that it would even be possible with a regular wingsuit used by skydivers here on Earth — provided you could get a fast enough run up.