Robotic Space Ants Edit
The Mars I-SWARM Project

The global population boom is just one of the driving forces to research Earth-like planets with the potential to support life. Researchers have gathered proof that there once was, or still could be, life on Mars. In fact, NASA alerted the White House regarding discoveries made by the Phoenix Lander, stating the red planet holds ‘potential for life.’

The Phoenix Lander confirmed there was frozen water at the landing site, yet the discovery is not surprising as water has been discovered on Mars several times. What’s new now is that the TEGA organic chemistry lab, and the MECA wet chemistry system, can detect current or past life with the aid of microscopes. Their theory is that if they can detect bacteria, there’s also life.

The discoveries of Earth-like soil and water on Mars led to the I-SWARM project. Marc Szymanski and his European research team developed tiny, autonomous robots that can work just like real ants.

Basically, a posse of about 100 centimeter-scale robots were made, and when sent out in swarms, the ant-sized micro robots form a research collecting army. Putting robotic ants in a real-world environment is based on the notion of colonizing Mars. With the aid of these robots, exploration will be made easy.