An aerobot is an aerial robot, usually used in the context of an uncrewed space probe or unmanned aerial vehicle.
While work has been done since the 1960s on robot "rovers" to explore the Moon and other worlds in the Solar System, such machines have limitations. They tend to be expensive and have limited range, and due to the communications time lags over interplanetary distances, they have to be smart enough to navigate without disabling themselves.
For planets with atmospheres of any substance, however, there is an alternative: an autonomous flying robot, or "aerobot".[1][2] Most aerobot concepts are based on aerostats, primarily balloons, but occasionally airships. Flying above obstructions in the winds, a balloon could explore large regions of a planet in detail for relatively low cost. Airplanes for planetary exploration have also been proposed.
- ^ Barnes D.P., Summers, P., Shaw, A., "An investigation into aerobot technologies for planetary exploration," in Proc. 6th ESA Workshop on Advanced Space Technologies for Robotics and Automation, ASTRA 2000. ESTEC Noordwijk, NL, pp. 3.6–5, December 2000. PDF version Archived May 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Anthony Colozza, Geoffrey Landis, and Valerie Lyons, Overview of Innovative Aircraft Power and Propulsion Systems and Their Applications for Planetary Exploration, NASA TM-2003-212459 (July 2003) link to NASA TM Archived May 12, 2008, at the Wayback Machine