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ICYMI: A space-based full service stop, bat drone and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-426380{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-426380, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-426380{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-426380").style.display="none";}catch(e){} Today on In Case You Missed It: DARPA's own AAA satellite service to service satellites orbiting Earth could launch in about five years, if all the testing goes as planned. A new drone is based on the form of a bat and the resemblance is uncanny. And Google is helping robotic graspers learn hand-eye coordination by giving them new objects to pick up. If you've followed along with some of the 3D-printed prosthetics we've done stories on, you'll want to see this glitter shooting, darling girl. And as always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
'Miraculous' Aeros airship set to fly by 2013, thanks to DOD funding
Are you nostalgic for a time when the word "zeppelin" stood for leisurely intercontinental travel for the rich and famous, rather than bass-heavy portable sound and MotoBlur phones? Take heart, as Ukrainian entrepreneur Igor Pasternak claims to have solved the "buoyancy problem" that has long limited the usefulness of airships. The problem is that burning fuel or dropping cargo lightens the ship, which then needs to vent costly helium to return to earth; without a way to control buoyancy, take-offs and landings become complicated to the point of uselessness. Pasternak claims to have solved this sticking point by compressing the pricey gas, thereby conserving it for later use. The Defense Department (which loves its warblimps) has contracted his company, Aeros, to provide a working demonstration by 2012-13. Dubbed Pelican, it will only fly without a payload at first -- but if the technology proves feasible, we might just see a new Era of Airships.
Aeros launches Aeroscraft ML866 aircraft
For those who've dreamed of piloting a blimp, but wouldn't mind having a personal dirigible around for less extensive trips, Aeros has you covered. The company has recently launched the Aeroscraft ML866, which is "a buoyancy assisted air vehicle with a rigid structure and gas cells." Integrated into the airship is the firm's own proprietary technologies, such as the full authority direct organic lift control (FADOLC) and dynamic buoyancy management system. The company also suggests that this creation can takeoff and land vertically, hover for "extended periods of time," handle all sorts of weather and get you where you need to be sans the use of an airport. Reportedly, the vessel will eventually measure in at some 210-feet long and will offer up around 5,000-square feet of cabin space, but you should know that this beast is expected to run you right around $40 million whenever it goes on sale.[Via Gizmag, thanks Andrew s.]
