Phase II Final Report - NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts

Chapter 6.0 Media Exposure
6.1 Introduction
Chapter 6.0 Media Exposure
6.1 Introduction
The amount of press that the Entomopter has received is phenomenal because it demonstrates
the topic’s allure in a time when few NASA projects are capturing the imagination of the public
in the way that the idea of landing a man on the Moon did back in the 1960s. Today Mars is the
next frontier in the public eye, eclipsing even larger near-term efforts such as the Space Station.
Add to the enthusiasm for Mars exploration the notion of a “robotic bug” being one of the first
animated Earthlings to roam the planet, and the media becomes frenetic.
From 1996 forward, the terrestrial Entomopter has received significant attention in the world
press, becoming in one particular year the most widely publicized item of research at the Georgia
Institute of Technology, where it was conceived. In fact, it was through an April 1999 Scientific
American article entitled, “A Bug's Lift,” by Phil Scott, that the Entomopter concept first
came to the attention of NASA personnel as having potential for Mars exploration.
With the advent of the NIAC Phase I and Phase II Programs to define the role and performance
of the Entomopter on Mars, a new dimension in Entomopter public relations dawned. First, the
long standing Entomopter website established in 1997 (http://avdil.gtri.gatech.edu/RCM/RCM/
Entomopter/EntomopterProject.html) has been a window to the world concerning both the terrestrial
and Mars applications for this technology. Although at no time did the design team go
out of its way to attract media attention, the nature of the subject soon became a hot topic for the
international media as the word spread following a number of scientific presentations made
around the world during the Phase II effort.
During the NIAC Phase II effort, the Mars Entomopter was featured in government and industry
briefings in the following venues:
3/7/01: Presented at the Royal Military Academy, Brussels, Belgium, as part of
the EuroUVS MAV-Small UAV Conference.
7/31/01 - 8/1/01: Featured at the GTRI exhibit during AUVSI-2001, Baltimore, Maryland.
9/5/01: Briefing to Norwegian Ministry of Defense.
9/6/01: Kongsberg Defense as part of a NATO-sponsored initiative.
10/9/01: Briefing to Turkish Aircraft Industries as part of a NATO-sponsored initiative.
12/12/01: Presented as part of the 21st Century Aerial Robotics course at the University
of Linkoping, Sweden.
2/14/02: Presented in conjunction with the IDC-2002 Conference in Adelaide,
Australia.
4/26/02: Invited Presentation, the Notre Dame Aeronautical Seminar Series.
7/9/02 - 7/10/02: Featured at the GTRI exhibit during AUVSI-2002, Orlando.
Also during the NIAC Phase II effort, the Mars Entomopter was featured in addresses to middle,
high, undergraduate, and graduate students in the following venues:
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