ExoFly: Mars' first tourguide

You know those insect-like micro air vehicles (MAV) we've been seeing? Well, the ExoFly aerobot is based on that camera-equipped DelFly design, only this time it's gearing up for a trip to Mars -- maybe even Titan or Venus. Turns out flapping-wing flight is perfect for the low-density Martian atmosphere. The current prototype -- weighing 17g with a wingspan of 350mm and flight time of twelve minutes -- is being tweaked for use in future missions to Mars. The folks at Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University, who've teamed up with Ursa Minor Space & Navigation, plan on increasing the weight to 20g and adding an on-board solar cell, which they reckon should extend the flight distance to 15km. There's also talk of using the digital terrain and image data gathered to simulate a 3D immersive environment for detailed analysis of extraterrestrial destinations -- hopefully viewable by those of us who don't have the billions to drop on a flight to Mars.

[Via New Scientist Space]

[warren @ Oct 3rd 2008 11:10AM]

Sweet! I hope we are able to travel to Mars in our lifetime.

[Ryan @ Oct 3rd 2008 5:47PM]

Get your ass to Mars! :::said in a crazy Austrian accent:::

[SayonaRRa @ Oct 3rd 2008 11:10AM]

Hmmm I need to borrow that for a couple 'o' days please. I need to sp...err check on how my good neighbor is doing in his back yard

[groggle @ Oct 3rd 2008 11:12AM]

I'm sorry, how cool is that?? 17 grams, flying on Mars... Oh Brave New World, that hath such gadgets in it!

[Xenoterranos @ Oct 3rd 2008 11:20AM]

They should make it able to dock like a roomba so it can come back to the lander, recharge, and continue surveying a different 15 Km stretch!

[barry99705 @ Oct 3rd 2008 11:31AM]

Or just land and let the solar cells charge him up.

[cory yalowicki @ Oct 3rd 2008 11:47AM]

That would make it a 7.5 km strech

[GeoNerd @ Oct 3rd 2008 2:49PM]

or a 15 km loop... but I bet engineers only think out and back...

[Bart @ Oct 7th 2008 4:43AM]

Vertical take off and landing for recharging batteries is the current design baseline. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OuaBWM1L-U

[Wolfticket @ Oct 3rd 2008 12:34PM]

Nasa were about to spend billions of dollars of research and development when some bright spark suggested they could just use one of those cheapo remote controlled dragonfles.

[mark f @ Oct 3rd 2008 1:06PM]

Not certain the atmosphere can be both low density and viscous considering how very thin and empty the Martian 'air' is. mf

[scape @ Oct 3rd 2008 1:33PM]

damn that is creepy, sentry bots galore (atleast that is what I keep thinking). ever see the scene in starwars iv with the flying sentry bot?

[stuart @ Oct 3rd 2008 1:58PM]

Very cool.

I think its interesting how in scifi movies/books the first alien presence is sometimes an insectoid type robot. The biologically inspired designs make sense to use but are also making that fiction a reality when we perfect the technology and visit other worlds.

[loosely_coupled @ Oct 3rd 2008 3:05PM]

"perfect for the low-density viscous Martian atmosphere". WTF? How the hell could the atmosphere be "low-density" AND "viscous" at the same time?

[J.O @ Oct 3rd 2008 4:20PM]

Umm, copyright infringement to WowWee's DragonFly? (http://www.engadget.com/tag/dragonfly)

[Bart @ Oct 7th 2008 4:43AM]

Yeah, the other way around... WowWee copied Delfly, but did a bad job anyway.

[Bart @ Oct 7th 2008 4:42AM]

See also the ExoFly website: http://www.ursaminor.nl/67.html