Hackaday Podcast 074: Stuttering Swashplate, Bending Mirrors, Chasing Curves, and Farewell to Segway

Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys recap a week of hacks. A telescope mirror that can change shape and a helicopter without a swashplate lead the charge for fascinating engineering. These are closely followed by a vibratory wind generator that has no blades to spin. The Open Source Hardware …read more

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Building and Flying a Helicopter With a Virtual Swashplate

They say that drummers make the best helicopter pilots, because to master the controls of rotary-wing aircraft, you really need to be able to do something different with each limb and still have all the motions coordinate with each other. The control complexity is due to the mechanical complexity of …read more

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Leonardo and Thales test fire Martlet multi-role small missile

Defense companies Leonardo and Thales have successfully tested the Martlet Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM). The Thales-built missile being developed for the Royal Navy was fired during air trials from April 27 to May 7, 2020 from a Leonardo AW159 W… Continue reading Leonardo and Thales test fire Martlet multi-role small missile

Boeing unveils Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft concept

Boeing has revealed its entry for the US Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) prototype competition. The conceptual rotorcraft is one of five competing designs by Boeing, Bell, AVX Aircraft, Karem Aircraft, and Sikorsky to replace the Ar… Continue reading Boeing unveils Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft concept

Mars 2020 Rover: Curiosity’s Hi-Tech Twin is Strapped for Science; Includes a Flying Drone

While Mars may be significantly behind its sunward neighbor in terms of the number of motor vehicles crawling over its surface, it seems like we’re doing our best to close that gap. Over the last 23 years, humans have sent four successful rovers to the surface of the Red Planet, …read more

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Classic Toy Helicopter Flies Again as DIY Version

For many of us who grew up in the 1970s, “VertiBird”, the fly-it-yourself indoor helicopter, was a toy that was begged for often enough that it eventually appeared under the Christmas tree. And more than a few of the fascinating but delicate toys were defunct by Christmas afternoon, victims of …read more

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Helicopter Chain Saw

Among the most dangerous jobs in the United States are timberjack and aircraft pilot. Combining the two wouldn’t sound like a recipe for success, but in fact it makes the job of trimming trees near pipelines and power lines much safer. That’s what this helicopter-suspended chainsaw does. And it definitely …read more

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Rocket Lab Sets Their Sights on Rapid Reusability By Snagging Rockets in Mid-Air with a Helicopter

Not so very long ago, orbital rockets simply didn’t get reused. After their propellants were expended on the journey to orbit, they petered out and fell back down into the ocean where they were obliterated on impact. Rockets were disposable because, as far as anyone could tell, building another one …read more

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24-hour webcam let's you watch as engineers build NASA's next Mars rover

The webcam is mounted on a viewing gallery above the clean room floor

A newly-installed clean room webcam at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is giving members of the public a front row seat as technicians and engineers assemble the Mars 2020 rover. The robotic explorer will be accompanied by a helicopter equipped with a high-resolution camera when it launches to the Red Planet atop an Atlas V rocket next year.

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