Its hard to believe these little things can even fly. They are about as small as a quarter and are simply cool.
Ilan Kroo and his colleagues at Stanford hope to use them for Mars exploration or atmospheric research one day!
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Alex
Unfortunately, this will never happen. Ilan Kroo's research at Stanford University concluded that:
Propeller designs did not achieve desired efficiency and the Mesicopter was never able to lift the weight of its own energy source.
roger
Given that this project ended ten years ago, looks like it wont happen. But don't say never!: microaircraft are a very active research area, I've seen somewhat larger ones capable of hoisting their power supplies.
renderanything
I don't really see how something that could be destroyed by a sneeze is going to help Martian exploration, but perhaps I'm just not thinking outside the box.
JackofManyQuestions
If this was 10 years ago, then how far has the research progressed? Does anyone know of others who are currently building such small flyers?
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