Weightless cats – Do space cats land on their feet? (2011) [video]

Re:Weightless cats – Do space cats land on their feet? (2011... by btilly on Monday April 11, 2022 @05:06PM (#30995030)

I'm sure that it keeps track of which direction is up with the same inner ear mechanism that we use for our balance. Given that it starts properly oriented thanks to gravity, and doesn't spend long falling, this gives it a good idea which direction is up when it lands.

Spend long enough out of gravity, and it will get confused. As do we.

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Re:Weightless cats – Do space cats land on their feet? (2011... by JumpCrisscross on Monday April 11, 2022 @06:10PM (#30995752)

Could also be the sensation of air rushing past [1]. Curious to test the competing hypotheses--dead reckoning from initial alignment versus air movement--in a wind tunnel.

[1] https://www.military.com/history/how-naked-skydive-inspired-...

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Re:Weightless cats – Do space cats land on their feet? (2011... by state_less on Monday April 11, 2022 @08:00PM (#30996831)

That’s what I thought too. The cat loses its plumb vector if subject to zero g for too long. Under normal circumstances, the cat quickly reorients along the previous plumb vector.

Could be wrong, but that’s my guess.

Nice joy ride BTW.

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Re:Weightless cats – Do space cats land on their feet? (2011... by pdonis on Monday April 11, 2022 @05:14PM (#30995169)

Yes, this makes sense.

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