Technology

NASA Unleashes Its 700-Pound, Autonomous ‘Mighty Eagle’ Robotic Lander

NASA Tests Its Mighty Eagle Prototype Robot Lander Untethered for the First Time

(Image: NASA/MSFC)

On Tuesday NASA reported the first successful untethered flight of its prototype robotic lander as it researches technology that would be used to land autonomously on in airless environment like the moon or an asteroid.

According to NASA’s release the 4-by-8-foot and 700-pound “Mighty Eagle” is pre-programmed with a flight profile to achieve autonomous landing from an onboard computer activating its thrusters. The three-legged lander is also reported to be “green” as it is fueled by 90 percent pure hydrogen peroxide.

NASA Tests Its Mighty Eagle Prototype Robot Lander Untethered for the First Time

(Image: NASA/MSFC)

Watch its 34-second flight were it hovers 30 feet above the ground, moves to a prescribed location and lands:

The lander was last tested in 2011 and has since had updates made to its camera to improve landing capabilities. This first successful test in 2012 kicks off a series of tests through September where the lander will demonstrate hovering at 30 feet, 100 feet, moving sideways and landing a 30-foot distance from its launch pad.

“These lander tests provide the data necessary to expand our capabilities to go to other destinations,” Dr. Greg Chavers, engineering manager and warm gas test article lead at the Marshall Center, said according to NASA’s press release. “It also furthers our knowledge of the engineering components needed for future human and robotic missions.”

NASA Tests Its Mighty Eagle Prototype Robot Lander Untethered for the First Time

(Image: NASA/MSFC)

NASA states that Mighty Eagle will “mature the technology needed to develop a new generation of small, smart, versatile robotic landers capable of achieving scientific and exploration goals throughout the solar system.”

(H/T: Business Insider)

Comments (12)

  • TeslanEdison
    Posted on August 18, 2012 at 3:01am

    Anyone ever stopped to look at all the evidence of Glaciers here on the east coast, I mean it’s about as evident as Volcanoes and tons of Lava are out west. It’s completely illogical to be trying to prevent global warming when we should be preparing for a climate shift towards freezing. If you watch the weather channel frequently enough you’ll get a feeling for how much warm weather the Atlantic and the gulf are responsible for. This planet did a lot of changing before we were on it, and according to even Biblical history it has done a lot while we’ve been on it, only in this century are we brazen enough to think we can stop it from doing or not doing anything. If you don’t care for the Bible just look at the geological evidence around you, the tropics get insanely hot, sometimes so hot they turn to desserts while Northern Latitudes have evidence of glacial activity. I’d be convinced of global warming on the east coast if you could show me in the geological record the vast desert caused by the CO2 emissions from uncontrolled fires all over the continent. It’s like walking in a ravine and saying look I see evidence of a flash flood, and then saying oh well it‘s never going to flood again it’s going to become ever hotter and dryer, that’s how this ravine was caused by hot dry weather.
    You know who the wealthiest guy is, the one who convinced everyone that there’s a global water shortage, and made his land worth millions. The surface of the Earth is more than 1/

    Report Post »  
  • teddrunk
    Posted on August 15, 2012 at 9:40am

    NASA the global warming hoax entity, wasting our money, can pound sand.

    Report Post »  
    • THX-1138
      Posted on August 15, 2012 at 12:31pm

      So, the moniker is *not* supposed to be Ironic?

      Report Post » THX-1138  
  • DeOppressoLiber
    Posted on August 15, 2012 at 8:54am

    Remember Neil Armstrong went to manual flight control to fly the Eagle (LM) over the boulder field and safely land on the moon.

    He also had a fun ride on the LLRV back on earth.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlJGQ92IgFk

    Report Post »  
  • Landon410
    Posted on August 15, 2012 at 8:40am

    man our muslim out reach team can really do some cool stuff with rockets jets engines and robots

    Report Post »  
  • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
    Posted on August 15, 2012 at 8:26am

    Maybe we should be checking out Venus, also?

    Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on August 15, 2012 at 8:10am

    When they mentioned a 700 lb lander, I assumed they had found a way to send Michael Moore to the Moon or Mars.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • biffo
    Posted on August 15, 2012 at 7:49am

    Get the racist bum out of the Whitehouse before he steals the plans and sells them for ‘Crackheads, Criminals For Obama’!!

    Report Post »  
  • historyguy48
    Posted on August 15, 2012 at 7:44am

    It sounds like they are trying to use an AI to land the landers in the future because the time lag on radio signals is so long. Somehow I just can‘t help wondering just how much more efficiently this technology might have been developed if the government wasn’t involved.

    Report Post » historyguy48  
    • THX-1138
      Posted on August 15, 2012 at 12:36pm

      The Feds don’t do things efficiently, just fast. e.g. The Manhattan Project, we needed it yesterday, money was no problem, so the Feds pulled it off in record time.

      Capitalists do things efficiently but, like that damn Flying Car thing they promised us in the 1950′s that just now becoming possible, it takes time…

      Report Post » THX-1138  

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