DARPA <3 Dune: miniature ornithopter in development
Chalk yet another one up to Frank Herbert; the DARPA people have just awarded a Phase II contract extension (whatever that means) to a company called AeroVironment so that they can continue developing their ‘Mercury’ Nano Air Vehicle ornithopter prototype. [via Hack-A-Day]
Ornithopters – which feature heavily in the Dune series – are aircraft that are propelled by flapping their wings like a bird rather than using rotors, propellors or jets. Check out the Mercury prototype in action:
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:05 am
FYI, the “Phase II contract extension” probably refers to an extension to a DARPA SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) contract. SBIR contracts start as Phase I R&D programs (typically about $100k) and, if the work is considered successful by the government reviewers, can lead to the award of Phase II R&D programs (typically about $750K). Receiving a follow-on award of $2.1M strongly suggests that DARPA was very pleased with AeroVironment’s work in the earlier Phase I and II efforts. So let us congratulate them and wish them good luck in advancing their technology further.
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:59 am
Great project.
Just curious: has anyone ever compared the overall efficiency of flapped versus propelled(?) flight?
July 3rd, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Here’s more about ornithopters: http://www.ornithopter.org
My kids had one of those rubberband-powered flapping-birds some years ago. It actually worked rather well.