Posted on 04/18/2018 7:42:50 AM PDT by ETL
NASA has two teams of researchers working to design a robotic bee that can fly on Mars.
The space agency announced the project on March 30. It's in its early stages, but the idea is to replace modern rovers — which are slow, bulky and very expensive — with swarms of sensor-studded, fast-moving micro-bots that can cover much more ground at a relatively low cost.
Literally called Marsbees, the little bots are "flapping wing flyers of a bumblebee size with cicada-sized wings," NASA officials wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I was sent from planet Gyron to conquer the Earth
I had a terrific plan
I thought it would work
Tried to get the earthlings all to kill each other
You see
But it all went wrong and now I must decree
You are worthless, Alec Baldwin
You are worthless, Alec Baldwin
You failed in every way and now my stock in you has fallen.
Your career is stalling’ and you’re worthless, Alec Baldwin
That’s why I blew your head off
And your children are all ballin’
Planet Gyron is inhabited with Zypods like me
But also with Balmacks who are giant bees
The Zypods and the Balmacks are at constant war
So we wanted a new home and that’s what Earth was for
But you are worthless, Alec Baldwin
You are worthless, Alec Baldwin
You f___ed up my whole plan
And now Gyron is smeared with Balmack Pollen
Your garbage needs some haulin’
And you’re worthless, Alec Baldwin
Now I must return home a failure
I’m afraid the pit of Kryrok is calling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGeLnX3aj40
Sheila Lee Jackson, Yale graduate.
(They deserve each other.)
See!
That looks ferocious!
Robot Wombats digging up Mars!
Hippie Robot Wombats that dig Mars.
Filthy, stinking Hippies dragging their soiled mattresses to Mars so they can smoke dope and listen to Mick Jagger music!
Haven’t read that one yet.
And bad mouth their country!
“I got a notch on this stick for every one of you pukes that DORd from being a Robot Wombat on Mars!”
“There’s only two things that come from Mars....Wombats and queers! Which one are you, boy?”
Only a very thin one. In fact, they have dust storms there.
Prices on the Planet Algon
(An animated sketch, and then to a strange moonlike landscape. Eerie science-fiction music plays in the background.)
Voice Over (John Cleese): This is the planet Algon, fifth world in the system of Aldebaran, the Red Giant in the constellation of Sagittarius.
Here an ordinary cup of drinking chocolate costs four million pounds, an immersion heater for the hot-water tank costs over six billion pounds, and a pair of split-crotch panties would be almost unobtainable. (cut to a budget-day-type graphic, with a picture of the product and the price alongside)
A simple rear window de-misting device for an 1100 costs eight thousand million billion pounds and a new element for an electric kettle like this (picture of electric kettle) would cost as much as the entire gross national product of the United States of America from 1770 to the year 2000, (graphic of American GNP) and even then they wouldn’t be able to afford the small fixing ring which attaches it to the kettle. (graphic of an electric kettle showing all the separate pieces detatched from each other, arrow points to the fixing ring)
(Cut to James M’Burke sitting at a desk. ‘Algon I’ motifs everywhere. Another expert stands by a model of the planet, and there is a panel of experts at a long desk who are all obviously dummies. Everyone has one of those single earphones.)
M’Burke (Michael Palin): Well, our computers have been working all day to analyse the dramatic information that’s come in from this first ever intergalactic probe, Algon I... (suddenly very excited as he hears something over his earphone) and we’re just getting an interesting development now, which is that attachments for rotary mowers - that is mowers that have a central circular blade - are... relatively inexpensive!
Still in the region of nine to ten million pounds, but it does seem to indicate that Algon might be a very good planet for those with larger gardens, or perhaps even an orchard that’s been left for two years, needs some heavy work, some weeding... (very, indistinct pictures start to come through on the screen behind him) But we’re now getting some live pictures through from Algon! Harry - Perhaps you could talk us through them.
(Cut into pictures from Algon.)
SUPERIMPOSED CAPTION: ‘LIVE FROM ALGON’
(Very fuzzy pictures of the Algon landscape. Panning and tracking shots hand held.)
Harry: (Terry Jones voice over) Very little evidence of shopping facilities here. There don’t seem to be any large supermarkets. There may be some on-the-corner grocery stores behind those rocks, but it’s difficult to tell from this angle. It does seem to suggest that most of the shopping here is by direct mail.
SUPERIMPOSED TELEPRINTER CAPTION: DIGESTIVE BISCUITS; £8,OOO,OOO PER PACKET’
(Cut to James M’Burke.)
M’Burke: Of course the big question that everyone’s asking here is, what about those split-crotch panties? Are they going to be unobtainable throughout the Universe or merely on Algon itself? Professor?
(Cut to a professor sitting beside a contour model of an area of Algon. It has a little model of the probe marking where it has landed)
SUPERIMPOSED CAPTION: ‘PROFESSOR HERMAN KHAN, DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE OF SPLIT-CROTCH PANTIES’
Professor (Eric Idle): We must remember that Algon is over 75,000 miles wide. The probes come down to this area here and we’re really only getting signals from a radius of only thirty or forty miles around the probe. Split-crotch panties, or indeed any items of what we scientists call, ‘Sexy Underwear’ or ‘Erotic Lingerie’ may be much more plentiful on other parts of the planet.
(Camera pans to include M’Burke.)
M’Burke: Professor, you were responsible for finding Scanty-Panties and Golden Goddess High-Lift Bras on planets which were not thought able to sustain life, and now that man has discovered a new galaxy do you think we’re going to see underwear become even naughtier?
Professor: Oh naughtier and naughtier.
SUPERIMPOSED TELEPRINTER CAPTION: ‘NO BANANAS ON ALGON’
M’Burke: Well so much for that. But of course, the probe itself has excited a great deal of interest for it contains uranium-based dual transmission cells entirely re-charged by solar radiation, which can take off a bra and panties in less than fifteen seconds. It is, of course, the first piece of space hardware to be specially designed to undress ladies, and so there are bound to be some teething troubles, such as how to cope with the combination of elastic-sided boots and tights.
(He produces the bottom half of a tailor’s dummy wearing boots and tights with panties over the tights halfway down. On the screen behind, more dim indecipherable TV pictures from Algon.)
M’Burke: But I think we’re getting some pictures now from Algon itself, and it looks as though... yes! The satellite has found a bird! The probe has struck crumpet and she looks pretty good too! Professor?
Professor: Ja - she’s a real honey!
(All we see on the screen is a blurred female figure.)
M’Burke: Well the pictures are a bit sporadic... I think probably the solar radiation during the long journey to Algon... (the screen goes blank) Hoy! Look! Oh dear, I’m sorry we’ve lost contact. We’ll try and re-establish contact with Algon...
(Cut to presenter’s-type chair. Mr Badger appears at side of screen.)
Badger (Eric Idle): Hello. The BBC have offered me the sum of 40p to read the credits of this show. (sits) Personally I thought they should have held out for the full seventy-five, but the BBC have explained to me about their financial difficulties and... er... I decided to accept the reduced offer... so... the show was conceived, written and performed by... the usual lot... (the signature tune is heard) Also appearing were Carol Cleveland, Marie Anderson, Mrs Idle, Make-up - Madelaine Gaffney, Costume - Hazel Pethig, Animations by Terry Gilliam, Visual Effects Designer - Bernard Wilkie, Graphics - Bob Blagden, Film Cameraman - Alan Featherstone, Film Editor - Ray Millichope, Sound - Richard Chubb, Lighting - Bill Bailey, Designer - Bob Berk, Produced by Ian MacNaughton for 92p and a bottle of Bells whisky ... it was a BBC colour production. That’s just it. I’d like to say if there are any BBC producers looking in who need people to read the credits for them, I would personally...
(The camera pulls out to reveal the sixteen-ton weight poised above him. As the picture fades the weight falls on him.)
http://www.montypython.net/scripts/algon.php
They won’t be able to fly as atmosphere is too thin and can’t recharge as no solar panels.
Another NASA pipe dream, looking for gov $$$$
Ah yes, much better. Thanks for the improvement!
Is this feasible with the thin atmosphere on Mars? The atmosphere on the surface is only 0.087 psi. That is the equivalent of earth’s atmosphere at 110,000 feet.
Mars also only has 0.6% of the earth’s atmospheric pressure. Can a bumble bee fly at 110,000 feet?
Timeline is my favorite of his. But they’re all good.
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