Titan: The rover boat that could explore Saturn's moon

Mars may grab all the headlines, but the Red Planet isn't the only Earth-like body in our solar system.

Saturn's moon Titan has long sparked the interest of scientists because its surface is covered in lakes, and rivers — which are filled with liquid methane.

Now, a group of engineers have submitted their plans for a new kind of rover — a floating space boat to rival NASA's Curiosity.

The Titan Lake In-situ Sampling Propelled Explorer, or TALISE, would succeed the ESA's Huygens probe, which touched down on Titan in 2005 after a seven-year journey.

TALISE would weigh about 100 kilograms (220.5 lbs), and would be equipped with an assortment of scientific instruments including a magnetometer, a panoramic camera, an acoustic sounder and a Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) system.

It would move across the surface of the liquid hydrocarbons using either smooth wheels, paddle wheels, or screw drives – all three systems are currently being considered.

Earlier ideas that were ultimately rejected included tank tracks, above- and below-surface propellers, and a hovercraft design.

After landing, TALISE will explore and collect data from the liquid methane makeup of the lakes found on the moon's surface.

SENER, a private aerospace company, is working in collaboration with Spain's Centro de Astrobiologia to develop a propulsion system that would allow TALISE to navigate on both land and sea, using a combination of wheels and paddles.

Octopus-like Submersible Robot crawling and the OmniBoat - YouTube

The Octo-Bot
It looks like robotic jellyfish won’t be the only soft robots exploring the seas. The Octopus Project, funded by the European Commission, is studying octopus movement and incorporating it into design and robotic technologies.

This iteration of the project is an eight-armed, submersible robot. The two large tentacles use a soft robotics technology powered by heat, while the six smaller tentacles use a system of steel and nylon cables to re-create octopuslike motion.

Why focus on the octopus? The real-life version offers a great example of a soft structure with advanced motor skills that can grasp objects, move around, change shape, and much more.

Researchers behind project hope to create new technologies by mimicking everything an octopus can do—so if all goes well, we might soon have a robot predicting soccer game winners.

Via IEEE Spectrum.



The Water Strider Bot
While octopi and jellyfish swim around underwater, this Lego “Omniboat” can skim the surface above.

The designer of this bot, Vimal Patel, built the center of the boat with Legos and keeps them afloat with Lego water bottles.

The setup even has a camera on board. Patel used another Lego pontoon to film parts of the video above.

The next step, we hope, is getting face-to-face footage of the ducks in the pond.

Via DVICE.

PlanetSolar: Solar Powered Boat

PlanetSolar, the first solar-powered boat to attempt to travel around the world, arrives at the VivoCity shopping centre waterfront in Singapore.

The 31m by 15m white catamaran was unveiled to the world last year and embarked on a world tour from Monaco in September to promote solar energy for pollution-free shipping.

The Swiss-flagged boat, which was built in Germany and cost £16 million, is topped by 500 square metres of solar panels.

Picture: ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/Getty Images

AdHoc Folding Canoe - YouTube video

Israeli designer Ori Levin has created a one-of-a-kind folding canoe called the Adhoc, that tips (no pun intended) the scales at just 4.1 kilograms, or 9 pounds.

The single-passenger Adhoc features a carbon fiber frame, and a hull made from aramid fabric, which is also used in racing sails. Custom-made locking mechanisms hold the telescoping longitudinal framework poles in place at the bow and stern, while a "parasol-like" center folding mechanism allows the boat to hold its shape in the middle.

Its single seat is a hammock-like fabric and webbing arrangement. The whole canoe can reportedly be stowed in a bag the size of a regular backpack, and assembled within about five minutes.

While there's no word on how stable or hydrodynamic the Adhoc is, as you can see below, it does at lease float with a passenger aboard.

BBC sail Boat made of Ice - Pykrete

BBC presenters attempt to sail a five and a half ton boat made of ice. The project for science show Bang Goes The Theory was meant to test an extraordinary concept, put forward during World War II.

Ships could be made from frozen water, in the event of steel stocks running out. In the 1940s, inventor Geoffrey Pyke suggested it was possible to make an unsinkable aircraft carrier using a material called Pykrete, made of both ice and wood pulp.

The mixture could be moulded into any shape and, with a slow melting rate, it was thought perfect for seafaring vessels.

The BBC decided to put Pyke's theory to the test by mixing 5,000 litres of water with the hefty material hemp and freezing it in a 20 feet-long boat-shaped mould.

It took three weeks to freeze it in one of the UK's largest ice warehouses, in Tilbury, Essex, before it was ready for launch in Gosport, Hants.

The plan was to sail the boat, complete with outboard, to Cowes in the Isle of Wight with the show's presenters, Jem Stansfield, Liz Bonnin, Dallas Campbell and Dr Yan Wong, on board.

The team made it in to Portsmouth Harbour where they were saluted by members of the navy stationed on destroyer HMS Diamond.

But after just over an hour in the water, it began to take on water and capsized. All four presenters had to be rescued from the water and the boat, which seemed to melt beyond recognition in no time at all, had to be towed to shore