1. A History of Drones
Imagine a car without a driver or a plane without a pilot, with a computer replacing the person who operates the vehicle. You’re imagining a drone.
Drones are everywhere in the news, especially with battlefield stories about unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) shooting missiles at targets half a world away from the person pressing the button. However, not all drones are used in war. Some drones are peaceful drones.
Budget cuts at NASA have thrust these remotely operated probes into the spotlight—first and foremost the Mars rovers (see Figure 1.1). These remotely controlled rollers have performed vastly beyond the expectations of NASA’s engineers.
FIGURE 1.1 An artist’s concept drawing of a Mars Rover (credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access