Pangaea Archives
Anti-Anti-Drone Technology
Why we need it and what form it might take. I was walking down the UAS-tech-laden hall of the 2018 Commercial UAV Expo when I spied two booths touting anti-drone technology. I thought to myself, “My issue is the opposite—keeping my UAS in the air. I don’t need any help crashing it.” Yet, looking back, […]
UAS for Confined-space Inspections: the DARPA Connection
Dangerous, difficult, and dirty: these are missions that drones are often tasked for. Let’s look at one of the most dangerous tasks out there: inspection of confined spaces. Boilers, tunnels, storage tanks, underground storage areas, and vaults are a few good examples. How dangerous are these places? Here’s what the National Institute for Occupational Safety […]
Atlas Obscura
Fall is a great time for travel: the weather’s cooled off, the youngsters are back in school (and not clogging up the national and state parks), and, as a bonus, there’s the fall foliage to enjoy. Back in the day (you know, before the advent of smartphones and digital maps), I used to rely on […]
Revolution #3: Drone-launched Rockets
Think of it as a revolution inside a revolution tucked inside yet another revolution. Revolution #1: ground-based reusable rockets as exemplified by rocket billionaires Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. The reuse of launch vehicles is lowering barriers to space flight. Great stuff! Revolution #2: air-launched rockets. A shining example is Paul Allen […]
Will Drones Replace Fireworks?
Here’s a slice of life from the western edge of the Eastern Plains of Colorado. As I write this, the Fourth of July is tomorrow, and I’m shopping for our holiday “staycation.” BBQ pulled pork, buns, baked beans, corn on the cob, and “tater salad.” Check. Should I pick up some fireworks? The informational sign […]
NASA’s Awesome Long-endurance VTOL UAS
The wizards at NASA’s Langley Research Center took a look at the current state of UAS and found two big problems: The flight time and range of electric multicopters is too short, and many fixed-wing UAS require extensive ground support for launch and recovery. With these challenges in mind, the team came up with two […]