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Jul 28, 2012 6:00 PM   Who knows what kind of craziness the CIA is working on now, but back in the 1970s, the goal was to perfect a robotic dragonfly. Now, 40 years later, you can see footage of the prototype in action. The insectocopter's job would have been to deliver listening bugs used to surveil unsuspecting targets, but the little drone could never quite manage to hold its own against crosswinds so the project was eventually scrappped. Had it not been, we probably wouldn't be hearing about it today. The insectocopter isn't the only declassified CIA project you can see in action; they've got a robot fish named Charlie too. It's anyone's guess what we'll find out the CIA was working on when they declassify modern day projects in the future, but let's hope it's something cooler than "a better robot fish". [IEEE Spectrum] View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line...

These days it seems like we're constantly seeing gorgeous images of the Earth from space. It wasn't always that way. On July 23rd 1972, NASA launched ERTS-1 satellite into space to observe the planet. We've never seen ourselves the same since. ERTS-1—Landsat 1—was the first of seven satellites in the Landsat program, which has continuously recorded our planet for the last forty years. According to NASA's, the program was inspired by the ominous photographs taken by astronauts from space that showed us the first images of Earth from without. Can you blame us for wanting more? Can you imagine what it was like to see the Earth from space for the first time? The same curiosity that sent us out into space to try to learn more about distant galaxies suddenly left us with an unquenchable urge to stare back at ourselves. Landsat 1 beamed data back to Earth for six years, and was instrumental in halting—or at least slowing down—the ecological disaster in the Amazon by giving us...