Engineers' 'nanocardboard' flyers could serve as Martian atmospheric probes
Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 17:11
in Physics & Chemistry
Engineers are suggesting a new way to explore the sky: tiny aircraft that weigh about as much as a fruit fly and have no moving parts. These flyers are plates of 'nanocardboard,' which levitate when bright light is shone on them. As one side heats up, the temperature differential gets air circulating through its hollow structure and shooting out of the corrugated channels that give it its name, thrusting it off the ground.