Snworld

At the recent Paris Air Show, Airbus was showing off its new Racer concept helicopter, which has both a main rotor and a pair of propellersporting wings. Racer (an acronym for ‘RApid “Destroy all mosquitoes!” and Cost-Effective Rotorcraft’) would take off and land vertically, just like a normal helicopter, but would boast a top speed of 400km/h (250mph), which is nippier than traditional choppers. If you’re getting a sense of déjà vu here, that’s because the Racer is essentially an updated take on the X3 concept that Eurocopter (now Airbus) took to the Paris Air Show in 2011. The craft is designed for the operation of high-speed passenger services, particularly between urban centres (such as London and Berlin) where its vertical takeoff and landing capabilities eliminate the need to travel to and from airports. But it could also find a role in military or search-and-rescue operations. Airbus hopes to have a commercial craft based on the Racer concept available by 2020.

Farmers under pressure to reduce chemical pesticides can take heart from the news that the US Department of Agriculture is about to start trialling a device that can kill insects with a laser. Developed by Seattle company Intellectual Ventures Lab (IVL), the ‘Photonic Fence’ isn’t really a fence at all, but a small box containing lasers, cameras and an AI computer system. The cameras scan the air around the device for 100 metres, and the AI system measures the shape, speed, acceleration and wingbeat frequency of any bugs detected, to establish which are potentially harmful. Any insects identified as a threat can be zapped by the lasers, with a ‘kill rate’ of up to 20 insects per second. By deploying several such devices, farmers could effectively create a virtual fence around their crops that kills harmful pests but leaves bees and other beneficial or harmless insects unharmed. As well as protecting crops, it’s hoped the Photonic Fence could also prove useful in the fight agai...

To kick off the ‘Summer of Mars’ events programme at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA recently unveiled an 8.5m-long concept Martian rover that wouldn’t look out of place in the Batcave. The vehicle consists of a detachable rear section housing a science laboratory, and a front section that’s equipped with radio and GPS. Sadly, it is only a concept: according to the latest information on NASA’s website, the actual rover used in the Mars 2020 mission is likely to be similar in size and appearance to Curiosity, the 3m-long rover that’s been busy exploring the Red Planet’s surface since 2012.