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Dragonflies to Explore Mars, Titan, Spook Out Aliens
Posted by Jesus Diaz at 4:00 AM on October 4, 2008
A new robot called ExoFly could be exploring the surface of Mars, guiding rovers through the surface of the Red Planet. Developed by scientists at the Technical University Delft, Wageningen University, and TNO in Netherlands, the ExoFly is designed to imitate the flight patterns of dragonflies. Dragonflies from 300 million years ago, because these things are huge.
Wingspan: 350mm
Length: 400mm
Mass: 17g
Flying speed: 1.8 ms-1
Flapping frequency: 6 Hz
Flying Time: 12 min
Wing Material: Mylar foil
Structure: balsawood
Motor: 2g pager motor
Camera: 1.2g pinhole camera
Energy storage: 3g Li Polymer cell
Actuators: shape memory alloy wires
Base station: 3GHz PC
Sensors: pinhole camera
Based on the DelFly, an Earth-based robot capable of autonomous flight, with hovering, take-off and landing capabilities. Scientists say the ExoFly can be adapted to fly in the more dense atmosphere of Titan too, so expect a black monolith to appear on the Moon anytime now. [New Scientist]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
BongoFury
Posted 4:32 AM 4/10/08
This is all cool... until it get splattered across some martian's windshield at 70 mph. Imitating the flight patterns of dragonflies INDEED!
BongoFury
Kaiser-Machead's LEGO WALL-E
Posted 4:24 AM 4/10/08
One day we'll have an AMEE patrolling Mars, but without the terrible efforts of Tom Sizemore, Val Kilmer, and the other dude.
Kaiser-Machead's LEGO WALL-E
m4ximusprim3
Posted 4:24 AM 4/10/08
Bom, bom, bom, BA BAAAAAAHHHHHHHH
m4ximusprim3
aec007
Posted 4:56 AM 4/10/08
NASA hellooooooooo!
WOW WEE products are cheaper!
Buy a Dragonfly [flytechonline.com]
or a Bladestar [www.bladestaronline.com]
'n save a few bucks on R&D!
:)
aec007
Killjoy
Posted 4:47 AM 4/10/08
Exporting UFO culture to the Martians... I wonder if they'll thank us.
Killjoy
tamoko
Posted 4:42 AM 4/10/08
Is the 3g Li Polymer cell battery rechargeable?
tamoko
shade-black
Posted 5:25 AM 4/10/08
red planet? you know it's actually brown right?
shade-black
ShadowX
Posted 6:07 AM 4/10/08
Mars! NASA'a new technology dumping site.
Sure I am a fan of searching new planets however when you are taking these disposable devices to a planet you run the risk of... I dont know... Contaminating the planet with Li Polymer cells...
Its bad enough that the earth is surrounded by man made bits of junk. now we are going to do this to another planet and who knows what the consequences are going to be.
ShadowX
EricAlder
Posted 6:21 AM 4/10/08
... and just think of the potential danger (not to mention embarassment) if the Martians spy these little mechanical dragonflies and figure out that Earth doesn't really have any cool laser weapons that they've beening seeing in our broadcasts and decide to invade us.
EricAlder
ripfire
Posted 6:17 AM 4/10/08
@The Terminator: Umm. Big bug spray?
ripfire
The Terminator
Posted 6:16 AM 4/10/08
What do we do when the giant dragonflies mutate and take over Mars? Huh?!?! WHAT DO WE DO!
The Terminator
kanon
Posted 7:40 AM 4/10/08
@m4ximusprim3: Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richart Strauss.
kanon
StealthNinja
Posted 9:27 PM 9/10/08
Future bug Force Space COlonization, is a success- Yes!
StealthNinja