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| Artist's impression of the balloon, that investigates the surface of Titan (Picture 1) |
Kimmo Huosionma
How some animal actually moves its legs might seem not very interesting or relevant knowledge. But this information is the most relevant, when we are creating walking robots, what can move them in extreme difficult landscape. Those next-generation robots can be actually similar than some space probes in 1960’ and 1970’s. They would have similar legs than those landing crafts, what landed on Moon and Mars. But they would have one big difference, those legs would be moving.
The next generation space probe would travel across the landscape like some giant spider, and that allows to investigate larger areas than before. The problem with the wheeled bed is problematic, because the wheels need quite a flat base, that they could be used. And if the site of that robot or craft would be on the edge of the sand, the waves would be problematic, because the wheels have so big layer, that waves can tip the machine.
In the wave line of the coast is needed a robot, what can stand in place in heavy waves. That’s why the engineer must copy the same solution, what the crayfish or some bugs use when they are living near the sea. This kind of robots would be sent to the Saturn giant moon Titan, to investigate the hydrocarbon seas of that moon. There might be found the bacteriological organisms, or some other explanations, why there are no other known living planets like Earth?
Maybe Titan can give the answer, why we are so lucky, that we don’t have competitors in our own solar system. The robots what could be sent to that strange world are might be sized and shaped similar to old-time transistors. They can be delivered from the balloon, what might investigate this giant moon in the future. And they would be sent there even thousands. Those miniature space probes would be the masterpiece of integrated microcircuits, and they could cover very large areas of that moon. Their mission would find interesting places for bigger lenders, what have more sophisticated laboratories and capacity to analyze the preparation.
But the problem is that those bigger laboratories need safe places to land. The preparations would be taken from the surface of that planet, and that’s why there would need the miniature probes to investigate and locate the place where might be found amino acids or marks of living organisms. That’s why there would be lots of miniature probes would deliver to the Titan surface. And if some of them see something interesting, the bigger probe would land in that place or near it. Then the laboratory would walk to the place, where is the marks of bacteria if smaller probes would find this kind of thing, and then call the bigger ones to make the more sharp investigation to make sure, that the finding is actually some bacteria.
Sources:
http://www.sci-news.com/space/planetaryscience/hydrocarbon-seas-titan-calm-05016.html
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/27579784/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/could-hot-air-balloon-help-map-saturn-moon/
Picture 1:
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