At Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Laboratories (ATL) in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Jameson and his colleagues are working on a Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) modeled after the humble maple seed, which soldiers could some day carry in their pockets and send out on reconnaissance missions to photograph inside a cave or down a blind alley.Unlike miniature conventional helicopters or robots modeled on flying insects, the NAV has very few moving parts, so there’s less to break down. Basically, it’s a single blade two inches long, with a tiny rocket thruster at its tip, which sets the blade spinning like a pinwheel at 15,000 rpm to produce lift. Also onboard (probably at the fat "seed" end, although the location is still undecided) will be a package including a battery, sensors, and navigation and communication equipment, all suitably teensy. Fully loaded, the NAV weighs about a third of an ounce.
Link & Image: AirSpace
Tags: Spy Plane | Technology
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