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"Smart Dust" to Explore Planets

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the new-but-not dept.

Ollabelle writes "The BBC is reporting how tiny chips with flexible skins could be used to glide through a planet's atmosphere in swarms to gather data and report back. 'The idea of using millimetre-sized devices to explore far-flung locations is nothing new, but Dr Barker and his colleagues are starting to look in detail at how it might be achieved. The professor at Glasgow's Nanoelectronics Research Centre told delegates at the Royal Astronomical Society gathering that computer chips of the size and sophistication required to meet the challenge already existed.'"

6 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. Goo by Ajehals · · Score: 4, Insightful
    ...tiny chips with flexible skins could be used to glide through a planet's atmosphere in swarms to gather data and report back...

    Replace "gather data" with "decimate indigenous life" and "report back" with "multiply exponentially", and you have either a classic horror movie or an Iain Banks novel.

    Actually its quite scary either way... grey goo anyone?

    1. Re:Goo by TheLazySci-FiAuthor · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I can easily replace "decimate indigenous life" with "aid indigenous life" and "multiply exponentially" with "respect nature" and suddenly we have nano-environmentalists.

      Do we still have a problem if the goo is green?

      Your concerns are valid in general, but this does not strike me as persuasive argument for this particular technological instance.

      --
      Read my Very Short "Stories"
    2. Re:Goo by SkWaSH · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I just finished reading 'Prey' by Michael Crichton. This stuff scares me now. Of course who would ever be stupid enough to make bad decisions in order to meet big deadlines? Nobody ever does that!

  2. How did you get modded up by WindBourne · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Look, even if we deploy 1 million of these spread out on Mars, I doubt that you would even find one if you looked for 10 years. There is more "pollution" (in terms of weight) that comes in via meteorites over a month, then would be in these million. Don't believe it? Then look closely at the moon and Martian surface. Those holes are not there just to look pretty.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:How did you get modded up by StrahdVZ · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I am sure that is what the Europeans who arrived on Australia and other pacific islands thought... right before they inadvertently introduced smallpox and decimated the populations. Or lets not forget the cats on ships whose kittens became the feral creatures that decimate local wildlife. Even the smallest outside influence can affect the function of a balanced system. Humans are a stupid people and we have a history of doing stupid things.

    2. Re:How did you get modded up by drsquare · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Planets are not balanced systems, they're lifeless hellholes. A few chips falling on them won't hurt.