ANIMALS PROVIDE IDEAS TO FURTHER SPACE
EXPLORATION by Sreeram
The future of space exploration could lie in biomimetics,where
engineering meets biology in effect,it steals nature’s evolutionary tricks to create revolutionary applicatons..Engineers like Dr Alex Ellery,head of the Robotics ResearchGroup at the University of Surrey,are trying to find out how natural systems might inspire human-made technology in space.
One obvious way is in the way nature packages itself into very small volumes,and yet deploy largestructures,like flo9wers and so on,he said.We can learn about how to package things like spacecraft,and then have them deploy their solar arrays,antennae and so forth,he added.
One example is the self-organization of ant colonies.Ants adopt complex tasks without ant specific instructions about what to do.Machines could act independently and intelligently would be perfectly suited to the hostile environment of space,and could make
exploration safer.
In the future,self-organising systems modeled on ant behavior could,for example,monitor space shuttles,sensing and repairing damage.The only real examples that we have of structures that can monitor themselves ,and indeed repair themselves afterwards,are biological structures said Don.Dr.Price explained that he has been studying the way ants deal with damage to themselves and their colony.
He has devised an array of damage
sensors which can be fitted around the outside of spacecraft,like skins.Thousands of sensors could pick up the smallest of disturbances.Each currently can communicate on-ly with the sensors next to it.Dr.Price is currently developing a system which will allow all the sensors to interact,meaning it can act like an ant colony.
Biomimeticists are loking at how to incorporate flying and jumpimg.Among them is Keith Paskins of the University of Bath who is trying to mimic flying squirrels.If we’ve got something that could jump,we’d then like it to be able to control itself in the air.But the problem with flying is that it’s very high energy,Paskins said.Gliding is almost free energy.If you stick out a wing and just glide down,then you can get yourself a lot further for very little economic expenses,said PaskinsHis colleague,Dr.William Megill,believes using the motion of a black ghost knife fish could make robots that swim,to explore oceans in space,such as on Jupiter’s moons.Bath’s biomimetics professor,Julian Vincent,has mimicked the drilling abilities of a wasp to create a robot better equipped for taking samples for analysis.
‘Sreeram’ is the pen name of the above abstract writer. His name in the professional field is V.Sree Rama Rao, B.E. ( Mech ), MIMA, M.I.E. is a Techno- commercial business consultant based at Mumbai the financial capital of India. He can be contacted on
e-mail : vsramarao1@rediffmail.com