A team of MIT researchers have developed a printable origami robot that folds itself up from a flat sheet of plastic when heated and measures about a centimeter from front to back. The robot’s design was motivated by a hypothetical application in which tiny sheets of material would be injected into the human body, navigate …
A website, spacecoach.org, expands on a 2010 paper which describes a design for a reusable interplanetary spacecraft made mostly out of water or pykrete (ice frozen with fiber material). The proposed design “burns” water in microwave electrothermal engines, a type of electric propulsion system that has been tested with water as propellant, and proven to …
DARPA wants to enable existing large aircraft to carry, launch and recover multiple unmanned air systems for a variety of missions. Military air operations typically rely on large, manned, robust aircraft, but such missions put these expensive assets—and their pilots—at risk. While small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) can reduce or eliminate such risks, they lack …
A SpaceX rocket exploded in mid-air early Friday evening. The unmanned rocket exploded shortly after launch around 5:45 p.m. during a test flight at the SpaceX testing facility in McGregor. According to a statement from the company, no injuries were reported. Witnesses reported several grass fires start from falling debris, but none of the fires …