#inginuity

[py-dreamer]

Yea!!! Can you tell I have favorites lol

so since it's the 20th in my time, it is officially my birthday today!

But I wanted to get this out regardless so kinda count it as the previous day's ig

I will be posting something later today probably but it will most likely just be a compilation of all the cakes I've done thus far.

Ok but um on with the cake!

It's like a cheesecake and I basically copied Tengen's cake with like a jelly filling with fruit suspended in it, peaches (obviously), strawberries and blueberries cause I like them and sod it I'll put them on this goddamn cake!

The thing Wukong's sitting on is one of those peach ice creams that's gotten so popular lately with the sprinkle of pink dust thingy on top.

On either side of the cake is the fillet from the journey and the hat from the brotherhood era, one from his reckless past and one from his redemption and I just think that's neat.

The blue puffy stuff is meant to be his nimbus clouds represented as cotton candy.

I have the baiju jar in there as reference to Wukong becoming immortal again due to the all the wine made from the peaches of immortality at the festival.

The staff as a little candle was so fun! And I like pocky so I chucked them on there to fill space and it looks good so sue me

The grey thing behind the staff and balloon is meant to be the Buddha's hand that trapped him under the mountain and a reference to his imprisonment under 5 phases mountain.

Peach popsicle! Of course I had too! A lil something from the present for our (shadow) peachy friend

Mk's stone as well, had to add his son in there too. The baby ever.

(probably just a cookie but it's the thought that counts)

The two sugar cookies are meant to be his logo (aka the lmk logo) and fireworks, again taken from Tengen's cake.

The sun is a candied/tanghulu esque orange thing. Like an orange slice coated in yellow melted sugar shaped like a sun and the phoenix feather cap since I consider it iconic enough to put in here. I didn't want to put it on him, blocking a lot of the decorations so I just hung it to the side and I think I'm happy with that.

A lot more monkeys here! It was very fun popping them in! I know I only gave Mac 1 but I mean Wukong's the monkey king for a reason. Let him be a loving grandpa and invite his subjects on the cake with him. He granted them immortality by ripping their names out the book of dead, let them have a place on the cake too

Also, yes that is the origami pilgims in the bottom left, I couldn't leave them alone could I?

Now the elephant in the room (or at least in my head), yes I did use @maplesleep's matcha pancake design for flower fruit mountain.

Cake on cake. Bit much but hey, I like cake and pastries better than candy normally so win for me.

And I couldn't just make cake about Sun Wukong without mentioning his home/origins of ffm. I do genuinely love the inginuity and adorableness factor of the pancake design and hope they don't mind me slapping it on my...cheesecake? Jelly cake? Jelly-cheesecake?

(also I have to ask @maplesleep, did you watch the 3rd emirichu anime cafe video, specifically the urusei yatsura cafe as inspiration for the 'sun wukong's strawberry sponge cake punishment' parfait thingy, gorgeously drawn btw I used those drawings as inspiration quite a bit for these cakes, or saw the urusei yatsura collab anime cafe

cause I couldn't help but notice the similarities between that and the 'shinobu's maiden strength parfait' cause if you didn't that be a pretty funny coincidence lol)

So what do you think? You think I could make it as another lmk food chef for lego? Can I join the club lmao?

I do realize in retrospect the disrespect I did Mk by making his cake so plain by comparison to his mentor's. But I think that's a testament to my improvement and attention to detail when making these cakes as the days have progressed!

I consider Mk's in particular to be the most lacking and I lowkey feel so bad for my boi for not giving him the main character status he deserves.

I might draw him again, idk. Not anytime soon though, like I said, I'm quite busy now more than before and I need a break, still glad I could serve y'all another slice of cake though!

[simplykorra]

"I just very quickly fell in love with it and after that I just kept working both in film and in cinema, and I always took it with a slight inginuity and because I think that's also a part of my personality and I think it protected me from the scariness of the industry that can put into your head of the pressure and trying to belong and trying to be, I just didn't think of any of that - I just wanted to play dress up and roles and to play with the mind and read and yeah, I think that protected me." - Alba Baptista

[ghostat7am]

Boyfail scientist time

I've talked about him a bit before, but this is my swap au Mike! Switching places with Crygor as a scientist. He's simply a human for now because of how young he is, but don't you worry- he'll be a cyborg one day.

His name is Mikeal Cadenza-Crygor, but he's simply referred to as Dr. Cadenza. He conducts experiments through music! Testing with sound waves, frequencies and rhythm to create formulas- his machines run entirely on sound too! He crafted the sub-type of science by himself, although it's pretty unconventional, it holds promising results.

He also has a part time job as a DJ at Club Spice

Mild backstory stuff

(CW: death)

Mikeal was the only child of a famed scientist. However he never really knew his father since his parents divorced when he was quite young, and his mother got custody of him. So he grew up in a small, southern town for most of his life.

He was pretty unsatisfied with this town, he longed for the glitz and showbiz of the big city, so once he was old enough- he moved out and into Diamond City, staying with his father. Although he was rather busy, he still attempted to bond with Mikeal.

Under his father's roof, he gained an appreciation for science and his dad's inginuity. Becoming a lab assistant to help out with the massive workload, eventually being properly taught by his dad

His father fell gravely ill and passed only a couple years after Mikeal moved in. Mikeal was devastated, feeling like it was too early for his legacy to die- he stepped in and took up the role his dad left behind.

However, the lab is lonely and deafeningly silent when it's just one man. So Mikeal used his father's teachings to create an automaton to keep him company, crafting Cry-bot, and kickstarting the beginning of the Cadenza Labs.

[galeleads]

@mundmutter asked. ❛ pinky promise? ❜

Such a silly little gesture, one that swore children to honor bound oaths for centuries. Yet, this woman, this leader of inginuity and wisdom, holds out her pinky to the Windborne as if it meant the world to her. Did she believe that Qistina's abilities would continue to shine even into motherhood? Well, yes.

For someone who prides herself in being this unshakeable force of nature, Qissy is also loving in an unconditional manner. Even Aurora, someone who has no ties of blood, is fully aware that the Belladonna does indeed care for her. "Oh Qistina," she can't help but smile. A gentle, dainty hand rises, intertwining their fingers. "Yes, I pinky promise."

[ribbonsaikeaux]

Singularity

Through the twilight vista of steel and glass shines a potrait of orange, greys, and purples. Shortly the sun will sleep and the waxing silver moon will shine amongst a curtain of stars. Not that the city was kind to the night sky; stealing its light and replacing it with the glow of thousands of street lamps and headlights. The veins of the city pumping with the humans that are its life blood. However, in this moment, the Witch sees only the painting of the skyline. Contemplating its beauty and vibrancy in juxtaposition to the horrendously dull monument to the inginuity of humans.

She spares a weary sigh, turning away from her window. She had work to do. The dolls were resting behing the glass of their finely carved display case. A dark oak bearing the faces of all four dolls in each corner and shelves lined with black velvet. Only the best for her dolls. However, now was the best time for this particular spell work. While this apartment was convienient in its location, it was lacking in space. Therefor, her precious dolls did tend to get in the way. This particular spell was rather complex and required great concentration, so it was best done while the dolls rested.

She desired power. The strength to make her dolls safe from this disastrous world. They deserved safety, afterall. Only the best. The only way should could conceive to accomplish this mammoth task, seeing as how humans were never to be trusted, was to gain the powers of a god. This way she could reshape reality as she saw fit; ridding the world of these humans so that her dolls would no longer have to be concerned about them.

She set to work, drawing her sigils across the floor. Further glyphs surrounding those. Candles of black, red, purple and gold set within each glyph, all lit in turn. She stands at the center of the sigils, closing her eyes and focusing. A dazzling light emanated from her being as she whispered the spells words. Forcing her will on the universe and demanding it give her the power she desired.

She didnt notice the light being pulled into her body; being more focused on the feeling of rapidly increasing power. She did, however, start screaming as her body was wracked with unknowable pain. Her whole body aflame with indescribable agony, he fell to her knees, still wailing.

Her dolls were ripped from their sleep as she screamed; banging on glass trying to get out to help their Miss. They were trapped, however, as the doors were too heavy for them to open on their own. She looked up, reaching out to them, but unable to get to them.

The dolls watched in terror as her clothes started disintegrating, the ripping fabric floating shreds around her. In her center, a darkness started to form. It was there that the remains of her clothes travelled; sucked into her. The darkness spread over her torso, then down her legs. A solid black that seemed to bend the light around it. A darkness so deep that the dolls eyes hurt as they gazed upon it.

The carpet was pulled into her being, atomized the moment it touched her obsidian leg. Then the table, the chairs, and the lamp, all travelling to the singularity that now existed at her center. Every bit of mass abosorbed made the darkness spread across her body more. She watches in horror as the dolls display case, thus the dolls themselves, flew towards her. Letting out a shrieking cry as it, and they, made contact instantly shredding and being sucked into her being. The witch sobbed and screamed and wailed, tears streaming down her face as the darkness crept through her hair and over her face. Those tears vanished within her; her voice silenced. There, now stood a woman shaped black hole. All lumination disappearing within her. Every once of matter she absorbed increased her size, making quick work of her apartment. Then her building. Then her block. Her ravenous form devouring more and more. Her reach growing as she grew and her density increased. The whole city stringified at her event horizon. The bigger she got, the stromger her pull. In minutes, the earth was gone. Swallowed into nothingness. Then Venus and Mars, Mercury and Jupiter, even the sun itself. An entire galaxy ripped from existence in less than thirty minutes.

She was now the empty darkness of space. A supermassive, unyielding goddess. She had gotten her wish; humanity was destroyed. Though, now it was just her. Isolated in the vast expanse of nothingness she had created.

[imflyingfish]

Im going to be honest I DON'T like watching/playing decked out. BUT this isnt because i think its bad.

I think that it is a technical marvel I'm just not about what is kind of "horror" in videogames. Like if decked our was in its own videogame outside of minecraft I do not think i would like it! But the fact that it is in minecraft gives it something that I can really aopreciate for the inginuity and design that went into it, So i rhink decked out is awesome more so because of Tango's work on it rather than it being a game that I would enjoy playing/watching

[rwbyazre]

in azre how would your rank salem's council members from your least favorite to your favorite?

Tyrian

I explained in a previous ask but I love Tyrian simply because they are a fun character to write and think of in various situations. They're not the insane trope or really flat like in canon, I wanted Tyrian to keep their obssession, their deadliness, and their odd behaviour, but connect it in a unique way different to other members of the council or really Remnant as a whole.

Because so many of the villains in AZRE are written as foils to what the heroes very well could've become. Adam could've been like Kaanchana, Weiss could've ended like Cinder or Watts, Yang could've been a Gretchen or a Raven or a Mercury, but Tyrian was born in unique enivronment that is one of the few places directly connected to Salem rather than Remnant.

Plus I just think they're neat.

Spectre

Speaking of villains that could've easily been foils to our heroes, Spectre is a close second for my list because I think he's cool and interesting with Atlas in combination with Watts.

A Faunus born and raised in the propaganda of Atlas, molded into a weapon to oppress others like him, and was casted out when he fought against the system for the betterment of his own people? Giang's interesting because he isn't wrong. The only reason he's even with Salem is because Ironwood and Atlas has made it so he has nowhere else to go.

He doesn't believe in Salem's power hungry motives for godhood or even likes the idea of Remnant being destroyed, because he loves Remnant He loves his home, he loves his people, he loves his family.

But there's nothing left for him to do. Either Giang sides with Salem with some desperate hope to make a change, or he falls into obscurity. And if he goes with the latter, he might as well have died that day he left Atlas.

Watts

Similar to what I like in canon, I just like Watts' personality and snarky remarks. He's funny in his own way and it's interesting writing someone who, in a group of highly trained fighters, he gets by just as well using his smarts and inginuity so that they can't replace him.

I also like the relationship he has with the Schnee family as a whole, but in particular with Willow, Jacques, and especially Winter. Watts' emotions are conflicted with the two adults of the family in different ways, but his relationship with Winter is even more based on just how similar they are as people.

Both have a very driven and dry sense when talking to people, devolving into biting remarks when towards people they don't like, and are primarily driven down their paths because of a love they held that was broken; their love in Willow. But they are both so similar and so different at the same time that there's a tragedy.

Maybe if Watts learned to let go, if he could've found happiness in being the best he could be, his life wouldn't be so low as it is.

Cinder

Now I don't hate AZRE!Cinder even though she's near the bottom of the list, just that I like the others more especially since canon portrayals haven't soured them for me.

But Cinder in AZRE is pretty much a mixture of how she is in Poser and Maya. She has the cool mysterious and powerful vibe, but the pettiness and anger that is shown far more often in the later volumes, just without her constantly losing. Cinder is a conflicting character for me because a lot of the stuff I like about her, other characters just do it better for me.

That being said, I do enjoy just changing her backstory and seeing how her wealth and downfall has fed into her superiority and inferiority complexes, because Cinder definitely has both.

Gretchen

Now I like Gretchen, I do, and I like that she's just a normal character amongst all these geniuses, cult members and rights revolutionists. She's just a woman wanting justice for the abuse of power that led to her brother's murder.

That being said, she's just kinda there for me. Going through and thinking of her different potential story arcs is interesting, but not as much as say, Watts' or even Raven. Still, maybe when I get to actually writing her and really framing her story, my thoughts on her will change.

[adorablemarie]

July 2

Thinking: Strength (Opal Rampant)

Bravery and inner strength through compassion and focus is how Opal comes to be, and the results are apparent as long as that focus is around. She stands ready to attack, in full control of the situation.

Feeling: Two of Cups (Ruby and Sapphire)

The connection and partnership that Ruby and Sapphire present in their dance culminating in fusion and Garnet. Feeling very connected to my partners lately, so this makes sense.

Doing: The Star (Connie Maheswaran)

Connie represents a hope and the inginuity of resourcefulness. The star represents the faith in groundedness, the faith that following your heart will get you out of the situation.

[gothchildvirtue]

"ARCANE NOTATION"

I'm not one in a billion, I'm one in a infinitum;

Simpleton, take heed: Do not give a spark to their contentious fire. Can't trust the voices in my head. The only enemy is within. Greed is the mark of a business men. I don't have time for the inconsequential. These people rather rub skin then accomplish anything. Do not stir the fire with a sword or stensil Retreat into yourself and bless the offender. Retribution leads to self destruction and monolithic consequences; There's no advantage in giving in to tempered desire.  The best revenge is not to be like them. Incredible inginuity offered by enacting philosophyBalancing multifarious affairs.

When the student is ready, the teacher appears. Call me John Photon and do not mistake my kindness for weakness.

[basiliskonline]

Pathfinder 2E [Tues] Quest For The Frozen Flame Log

Last nights session for my Pathfinder campaign had went on a lil sideplot dealing with Alva (Changeling Witch, level 1), who had been experiencing The Call in an attempt to Lure her to her Hag mother.*

* In Pathfinder, “the call” is supposed to happen once, and if you resist you are good, but the player wanted to make it a reoccurring element.

She had been lured off the path, something missed by the rest of the party, as they made their way through the forest. Eventually they had to backtrack and try to track her down. When they eventually found her, she was trudging slowly and methodically across an iced-over lake towards the waiting arms of a Frost Troll and some Ice Mephits sent by her Hag mother.

I had warned the player’s that this encounter would be EXTREMELY difficult, it was a 280 XP encounter all together, the plan was to have the mephits engage them, and hopefully enter a chase conflict with the very powerful Frost Troll, or if dealing combat to approach CAUTIOUSLY and understand it is way more powerful than they are.

Enter: Ice. Pathfinder Ice rules are BRUTAL. Or at least how I ran them, assuming RAW, that being said I will not be running them that way in the future, whether that is a house rule or playing them correctly now :P

ice slowed them down and caused enough issues, that by the time they’d managed to free Alva from her call (with a fire cantrip to the back (fire damage frees her, as her mother is a Winter Hag)), the Mephits had engaged, many of the party was stuck mostly immobilized on the ice and the troll had grabbed Alva and started moving away with her.

Things did not look good for my party or the encounter I mis-prepared for them 😂

ENTER PLAYER INGINUITY

Alva, knowing that the Troll has been instructed to return her alive, drew her dagger and put it to her own throat, telling him that her and her friends would be allowed to depart unimpeded or he would bring back nothing but a corpse to her mother.

This fantastic flare of ingenuity earned Alva’s player both a Hero Point and concluded the encounter as the Troll called the Mephits off and left with a warning that they’d be seeing him again.

[badwasabi]

Mass Effect alternate first contact HFY story.

The summary says it's a universe where humans found the Mars Prothean cache, but it didn't have any Element Zero, so they never developed mass effect tech. And - by complete and total coincidence - that means "they're basically the UNSC from Halo". Fic's pretty popular. And also somewhat controversial. My opinion?

It's terrible. Absolutely terrible.

First, the actual basic prose is strictly amateur hour

It was just a communicator. Breathed the Admiral, it was just a communicator, it wasn't an AI. The Admiral assured himself, though something in the back of his mind was telling him the exact opposite.

Okay, so, grammatically, "Admiral" and other ranks should not be capitalized. Except under certain circumstances that are not these. Why is the Admiral "breathing" a thought? The term is for things people actually say. And it's controversial even then. Why tell us the admiral "assured himself" when we've just read the self-assurance? Also, the thought bits should end with a comma, not a full stop, if they're supposed to be part of the same sentence. And if they were, it would be a run-on sentence. This story has a lot of run-on sentences with poor grammar and redundant information, just like this.

It was just a communicator, the admiral thought. Not an AI. And something in the back of his mind whispered, ...Or maybe it is.

There. I've added a little more mystery, and cleaned up the dialogue and punctuation. Now the back-of-the-mind thought isn't a statement, it's a suggestion. An uncertainty. Which is much more interesting for the reader. And this is just one random sentence. This story is 200,000+ words, total. Same problems through everything I've read. Which is, at this point, half the fic. One of the other problems? It tries to be too epic, all the time. Also a common amateur mistake.

For example, the Turians rock up in the solar system due to a series of plot contrivances. Since the quarians pissed off the Council (through no real fault of their own, of course, and they already exiled the people responsible offscreen) and are hanging out with humans, and the Batarians lie about their own attack on humanity, the Turian admiral says "fork over the fugitive suit-rats."

The Systems Alliance head argues with the Turian Admiral for a while (directly). The Admiral says the Quarians killed hundreds of Turians, and Humanity is breaking Citadel law by allowing Quarians to settle on, um, human worlds. How does the SA head respond?

"Admiral Valast, while I will admit they told us nothing of this… They came to us a destitute, dying race on the verge of extinction. They came to us in a level of disrepair I was amazed, at their inginuity and skill, that they could still function. They spoke to us with a level of humility I myself have never seen before. They asked us if we would take them in! If we would SAVE them! In response to this, you want to bomb them off of our planets!? This is the Human, Systems, Alliance! We are not your 'Citadel Council', we are an autonomous Governmental structure, and the Quarians have become our allies by colonizing with us! They, like the Humans of Earth, are our people! If you attack them, you may very well have attacked us!" The human declared, he sounded enraged near the end, "Admiral Valast, under Systems Alliance Contingency Plan: Sierra-Charlie-Omega One, I have absolute power within the Home Territory. This is Human territory, the planet I'm hovering above is the Human home world! The planet you invaded without warning or just cause was a Human and Quarian planet! The Humans, and Quarians living on that planet - and all others we as species united decide to colonize - are MY responsibility! If you do not halt the advance of your fleet you will start a war you have NO chance of winning!" The human declared.

…So this dude just gave a 200 word, two minute Dramatic Speech™ off the cuff? No prep at all? No buildup?

And humanity is gonna go to the mat for people they basically met yesterday, which apparently lied to them? Not even a little lie, a really big one.

Why not just go

Or even consider complying with the demands? Why risk war with an unknown polity of unknown power for strangers?

-Incidentally, the Citadel News Network (note the acronym, and the extremely subtle topical political commentary) broadcasts blatant turian propaganda about hunting the quarians down on "Earth" without even mentioning humanity. The turians got enough data from engaging humans and quarians to find Earth, but either somehow didn't realize they fought human ships, or they were just lying.

Also, since when do turians blindly believe Batarians? These turians are more spracist against the "suit-rats" than the four-eyes. This feels backwards.

Oh, wait, turians in this fic seem a lot more racist than canon. Not the first time I've seen that in a popular fic with a Quarian-Human alliance. Which also means all the non-human characters constantly stop the story dead to think about how cuh-huh-razy human behavior and tactics are. If I'm a captain in space, guarding the Citadel, and a quarian envoy rocks up on a human ship with a weird name, I'm not going to focus on the ships name before I think about the actual situation.* And this keeps happening, even in fight scenes. This is...fine as an occasional thing for short HFY stories, but it's really awkward in long-form, and when everyone constantly does it. But not humans or quarians, of course. *The captain threatens to fire upon the envoy ship, just out of sheer space-racism. Because pissing off people who just pasted two of your fleets like wallpaper when they might have more ships right behind them is a fantastic idea. The turian doesn't even notify the citadel, so the human ship has to go over his head and contact the councilors directly, with their super-special AI h4xx0r.

[dovertime]

The Inginuity of Humans

To replace a diamond,

With the inginuity of humans.

You can’t make this, nature

.

- The Master of All

- Jack of All Trades

[cotitofficial]

// beware the info-rot //

// they are hampering our progress by rotting the foundations on which our powers of inginuity stands // continued study and research can only thrive when the info-tide remains whole and uncorrupted // by throtting the info-tide behinds their corperate walls, they flood our access to data with the scraps they leave behind //

// the info-rot is here // the info-rot is real //

[delano-ravynne]

Cheese

Slaughn

Skåll

Xiexie

Herehere

Kanpa

To us all

For what is

What has been

May we always find our way back eachother

May we not forget the horrors and wars of man and heart and soul in this life

May we use them as the foundations of hope and inginuity for a sustainable future

A future where love and quentioning can me synonymous and tears of joy are the most common link to regret.

Ans for all to come

[thecgbros]

CGI & VFX Breakdowns: "Let the Right One In" - by Inginuity Studios | Th...

Check out this revealing VFX Breakdown for "Let the Right One In" Ingenuity Studios showcased their versatile expertise in visual effects, tackling a diverse range of tasks from winterization elements like matte paintings and snow additions, to crafting fully CG chimps, rats, and vampire enhancements, along with minor gory effects such as blood, scars, and wounds. Their work also included digital doubles, set extensions, and clean-ups. Notably, the early episodes featured their exceptional work on fully CG chimps seamlessly transitioning into ferocious Vampire Chimps, meticulously detailed with intricate fur and hair modeling. Leveraging creative tools like Nuke, Maya, Houdini, and VAST Storage, the team delivered 1,522 shots for the Showtime vampire/horror series, with a significant focus on the creation of these captivating and menacing creatures.

[spacenutspod]

The exploration of Mars continues, with many nations sending robotic missions to search for evidence of past life and learn more about the evolution of the planet’s geology and climate. As of the penning of the article, there are ten missions exploring the Red Planet, a combination of orbiters, landers, rovers, and one helicopter (Ingenuity). Looking to the future, NASA and other space agencies are eyeing concepts that will allow them to explore farther into the Red Planet, including previously inaccessible places. In particular, there is considerable interest in exploring the stable lava tubes that run beneath the Martian surface.These tubes may be a treasure trove of scientific discoveries, containing water ice, organic molecules, and maybe even life! Even crewed mission proposals recommend establishing habitats within these tubes, where astronauts would be sheltered from radiation, dust storms, and the extreme conditions on the surface. In a recent study from the University Politehnica Bucuresti (UPB), a team of engineers described how an autonomous Martian Inspection Drone (MID) inspired by the Inginuity helicopter could locate, enter, and study these lava tubes in detail.The study was conducted by Daniel Betco and Sabina Ciudin, two aerospace engineers at the University of Bucharest Polytechnic, with the support of Petrisor Valentin Parvu, an associate professor with UPB’s Department of Aerospace Sciences. The paper that details their concept, “Autonomous Navigation for the Martian Inspection Drone,” recently appeared in Acta Astronautica. In it, they describe how guidance, navigation, and control operations could be developed for their MID concept, which would rely on a convolutional neural network (CNN) to ensure autonomy. Martian lava tubes were first noticed by the Viking orbiters, that studied Mars between 1976 and 1980. The images acquired by these missions revealed many features that showed how Mars was once a very different place. These included flow channels, basins, and alluvial deposits that indicated Mars once had flowing water on its surface. The presence of these lava tubes was confirmed by subsequent orbiters like the Mars Odyssey, Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), Mars Express, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which indicated that it was geologically active in the past as well. As Betco and his colleagues told Universe Today via email, there are many things that make Martian lava tubes appealing to scientists. Much like lava tubes on the Moon, which are similarly large enough to accommodate entire planetary bases (or even whole cities), this includes natural radiation shielding and protection against the elements:“In some instances, predicted surface values are reduced by as much as 98%. These lava tubes are of particular interest to astrobiology as they may preserve evidence of life on Mars by offering protection from UV radiation. Additionally, the caves could serve as a refuge for future human missions exploring Mars. Deeper locations within the caves could be utilized as a shield against micrometeoroids or as a heat insulator.”There is also considerable research that suggests that lava tubes may contain water ice and even be a haven for Martian life (most likely in the form of hardy bacteria). This makes lava tubes a viable location for astronaut habitats, astrobiology research, and possibly permanent settlements. Many mission concepts have been proposed for exploring these lava tubes, including networked rovers and robotic snakes. However, the Ingenuity helicopter – a technology demonstrator that accompanied the Perseverance rover to Mars – effectively demonstrated that aerial vehicles could be the best option for exploring Mars. As Betco and his colleagues indicated, this includes the lava tubes that run beneath its surface, which would be tricky for rovers to navigate. “Aerial vehicles are well-suited for lava cave exploration as they can move in any direction in three-dimensional space, allowing them to enter the lava tube for inspection,” they said. “In comparison, a rover is limited to two dimensions and would require a highly complex configuration to enter and navigate within a lava tube.”Artist illustration of NASA’s Ingenuity (upper right), a Sample Recovery Helicopter for the NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return mission (foreground), and a future Science Helicopter (upper center). Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechUsing the Ingenuity helicopter as their touchstone, the team produced a design for their Martian Inspection Drone (MID). But whereas Ingenuity relies on two coaxial rotors, their vehicle has an octocopter configuration with eight. The vehicle will also have a suite of advanced scientific instruments for inspecting the cave and lava tube interiors. It will weigh a maximum of 15 kg (33 lbs), making it significantly heavier than Ingenuity – which weighs just 1.8 kg (4 lbs). As they describe it, the MID will also rely on an autonomous navigation system and AI to ensure it can make decisions without human controllers:“A foldable mechanism is proposed to occupy a smaller volume during launch. Its autonomous navigation relies on acquiring data from sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, altimeters, and cameras, processing them to determine the position and attitude of the drone during flight. Another layer of autonomy is implemented through MID’s capability to make decisions regarding the next steps based on a trained Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model. This model offers the possibility to detect and inspect lava-tube entrances (pits).”Looking to the future, it is clear that aerial vehicles will play a significant role in exploring extraterrestrial environments. This includes NASA’s Dragonfly mission, the nuclear-powered quadcopter that will explore Saturn’s largest moon, Titan (starting in 2034). Other concepts, like solar-powered aircraft and fleets of balloons, are being considered as a possible means of exploring the cloud tops of Venus and deploying sample-return drones to the surface. An autonomous helicopter, said Betco and his colleagues, could drastically expand future exploration efforts on Mars: “Our work’s potential implications lie in the efficient exploration of the Martian planet, as the drone offers the possibility to survey and inspect areas of interest without requiring constant human intervention. The development of MID contributes to the integration of artificial intelligence in Martian missions. Even though the technology is not quite ready for this, the lessons learned and technologies developed now will drastically benefit future exploration of the Red Planet.”The team is currently working on implementing new capabilities that will allow their concept to inspect the insides of lava tubes using Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) techniques. If realized, similar concepts could be used to explore lava tubes and recesses on the Moon, Mercury, and anywhere else in the Solar System they are found.Further Reading: Acta AstronauticaThe post Future Mars Helicopters Could Explore Lava Tubes appeared first on Universe Today.