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Table 2. Varied functions of UAV.
| UAV | Functions |
| do | Reconnaissance or sustained surveillance |
| do | Illumination of targets by laser for destruction by guided weapons launched from other platforms. |
| do | Missile carrying UAV which will deliberately crash into the target and destroy it. |
| do | Portable UAV which can be manually launched. |
| Raven manufactured by AeroVironment, Monrovia, California | Radio-controlled planes like model crafts but is packed with sophisticated electronic gears. |
Table 3. Improvements leading to an explosion in applications of UAVs.
| UAV | Improvements made for making UAV effective |
| Raven. | Nickel-cadmium (gave power for 30 minutes) was replaced by lithium ion-powered batteries which lasted for 90 minutes in UAV. |
| MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) was the enabling technology which allowed tiny gyroscopes, accelerometers and air-speed sensors to be added to the smallest of these vehicles. | |
| Compact and reliable GPS ( global positioning systems) receivers. | |
| Advances in computers and radio links. | |
| Weapons could be used by 2001 in reusable UAV | |
| 1990s Predators. | Used only for surveillance. |
| Predators outfitted with laser designators. | These could automatically guide missiles or artillery shells launched from ground platforms. |
| Predators as air-to surface missile launchers. | Used in October 2001 in the hunt for al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan |
| Predator as logistic support | Used in destroying a machine gun bunker that had pinned down U.S. Army rangers in Afghanistan. |
| Predator as air-to-air missile launcher | Used in 2003 against Iraqi fighter. |
| ‘Shadow’ manufactured by A.A.I. Corp., the Hunt Valley, Madison. | Special radio-equipments added so that by automated landings were possible even in blinding sandstorms. |
The possible civilian applications.
Advances in communication and automation technology will help in the further proliferation in UAV applications.
Technology 8_PLANETARY ROVERS.
Before we describe the remarkable advances in Planetary Rovers, it will be appropriate to describe the ushering in of Space Age by the launching of Sputnik.
Table 4. The unfolding of Space Age - A BRIEF HISTORY OF APPOLLO AND LUNA MISSION*
| 4 th Oct. 1957 | Sputnik (I) launched by erstwhile U.S.S.R. It carried a Radio Transmitter. This was an aluminium sphere 58 cms in diameter and 83.6 kg in weight. It measured atmospheric density and temperature throughout its elliptical orbit which ranged from 227km at its perigee to 941 km at its apogee. It also collected data on electrons concentration in ionsphere. The satellite was launched by a modified R.7(55-6 Sapwood), the first Soviet Intercontinental Ballistic Missile(ICBM). |
| 3 rd Nov. 1957 | Sputnik (II) launched. It carried a dog, laika. The space endurance of the dog, in-situ, was monitored by methods of Telemetry. |
| 17 th April 1961 | Yuri Gagrin, the first Cosmonaut, in Space atop VOSTOK (1). Duration of stay in Space was 108 minutes. |
| May, 1961 | President of U.S.A. makes his historic Statement :“I believe this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing Man on Moon and returning him safely to Earth.” |
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