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Terra Drone Launches Japan-Made Indoor Inspection Drone “Terra Xross 1” Simultaneously in Japan and the US
February 6, 2025
Terra Drone Corporation, recognized as the No.1 Drone Service Provider in the world for 2024, has announced the simultaneous release of its in-house developed indoor inspection drone, “Terra Xross 1”, in both Japan and the United States.
This is the first(1) indoor inspection drone developed and produced by Terra Drone. Featuring advanced technology, “Terra Xross 1” ensures stable flight performance, even in challenging indoor environments such as cramped, dark, and dusty indoor conditions.
Furthermore, it is offered at a price approximately one-third of the competition, making it more accessible to a broader range of customers.
The Reason Behind Producing “Terra Xross 1”
Indoor inspections often involve dangerous working environments in confined or elevated spaces, requiring significant preparation and raising costs for operations.
While drones can improve safety and efficiency, existing indoor solutions face challenges like instability due to the lack of GPS and high initial costs, limiting adoption.
To address these issues, Terra Drone developed “Terra Xross 1”, which integrates visual odometry sensors and Lidar for stable flight, making it easy to operate without advanced flight operation skills.
Additionally, as an in-house developed product, “Terra Xross 1” enables it to be offered at an affordable price. Furthermore, “Terra Xross Cloud” has been launched simultaneously for 3D data management and rapid data sharing.
These innovations enhance safety, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, unlocking new possibilities for users of all experience levels.
Five Features of “Terra Xross 1”
“Terra Xross 1” is the Japan-Made indoor inspection drone designed for visual inspections, ensuring stable flight while being offered at an affordable cost.
Stable Flight in Challenging Indoor Environments
“Terra Xross 1” integrates visual odometry sensors and Lidar for stable indoor flight. While conventional visual odometry sensors struggle in cramped, dark, and dusty conditions, Lidar estimates its position based on displacement, ensuring stability without relying solely on visuals. This enables seamless operation even in challenging environments.
Affordable Pricing at Under $25,000 USD
By optimizing in-house development and production processes, Terra Drone has significantly reduced manufacturing costs. This allows “Terra Xross 1” to be offered at approximately one-third the cost of existing indoor drones.
Extended Flight Time with Tethering Module
Conventional indoor drones have faced limitations due to short flight time. “Terra Xross 1” addressed this by supporting both battery-powered operation and tethered power module, enabling continuous flight with a constant power supply.
This eliminates the risk of crashes from power depletion and allows for uninterrupted, efficient inspections without the need for battery replacements.
Advanced Imaging with 180° tiltable 4K Camera and LED Light
Equipped with a 4K camera that can tilt 180° vertically, “Terra Xross 1” captures high-quality images and videos even in challenging conditions. The powerful LED lighting ensures clear visibility in low-light environments.
Streamlined Data Management with “Terra Xross Cloud”
By uploading the acquired inspection data to “Terra Xross Cloud”, users can easily visualize the captured data in a 3D space and seamlessly manage and share both point cloud data and recorded video footage.
This helps rapid information sharing among team members and facilitates workflow efficiency.
Transforming Indoor Inspection with “Terra Xross 1”
“Terra Xross 1” is designed for versatile applications across various industries and operations:
Infrastructure Inspection: Inspection of high and confined spaces in oil and gas plants.
Mining Mapping: 3D mapping survey for excavation planning in underground mines.
Disaster Assessment: Investigation of collapsed buildings in disaster-affected areas.
Security Monitoring: Safety checks and surveillance inside government and public buildings.
By offering “Terra Xross 1”, a cost-effective solution, Terra Drone aims to make advanced drone technology more accessible to the indoor inspection sector.
Since this drone enables stable flight without requiring specialized piloting skills during operations, it is expected to be utilized in a wide range of applications.
Terra Drone continues to be committed to driving safety and efficiency in indoor inspections worldwide with its Japan-Made drone, “Terra Xross 1”.
https://www.commercialuavnews.com/terra-drone-launches-japan-made-indoor-inspection-drone-terra-xross-1-simultaneously-in-japan-and-the-us
https://terra-drone.net/global/2025/01/31/terra-drone-launches-japan-made-indoor-inspection-drone-terra-xross-1-simultaneously-in-japan-and-the-us/
Canadians want research on UFO sightings, but don't want to pay for it
February 5, 2025
The truth is out there and Canadians think they should know about it — but they don't want to pay for research into reports of strange objects spotted in the night sky.
Canada's chief science adviser hired a third-party consulting firm to poll Canadians on how they feel about UFOs, now broadly referred to as unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).
The survey says the public wants the federal government to proactively release any documents it has on unidentified sightings in the night sky, but there's little desire to fund investigations.
About half of Canadians think the government needs to do something about reports of UAP sightings and a third said it's "very important" for the government to make information on reported sightings available to the public.
But only one in 10 feel it's urgent for the government to shell out funds to investigate those reports.
"Despite the general interest in government action, there is little appetite for public spending on UAP investigations," the report said.
"Enabling citizen science could be used to bridge this contradiction in order to fill the apparent desire for information without a high level of spending."
Earnscliffe conducted the survey of 1,008 Canadian adults in August last year. The report was only made public by the government recently. It does not carry a margin of error because it's an online poll.
Interest in UAPs got a big boost in early 2023, when a Chinese spy balloon travelled across Alaska and Western Canada before U.S. forces shot it down off the coast of California.
The polling was purchased to inform the Sky Canada Project, which was launched in 2022 to assess the state of Canada's procedures for UAP sightings.
Most Canadians do not know what's behind those uncanny objects in the night sky.
"This is particularly true for those who do not pay attention to stories about UAP," the survey said.
Just 10 per cent believe it could be aliens or extraterrestrial life — twice as many as those who point to natural causes like weather.
More than a quarter said they have seen an unidentified object in the sky in their lifetime, but only one in 10 reported the event.
About one in every five said they are "very likely" to use a mobile app to document UAP sightings with photos, videos or sound recordings.
The science adviser released an initial report last month that said sightings reported by Canadians are "scattered across multiple government and non government organizations," since there's not one dedicated agency to receive them.
It recommends tapping one federal department to be responsible for managing public UAP data, such as the Canadian Space Agency.
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/science/canadians-want-research-on-ufo-sightings-but-don-t-want-to-pay-for-it/ar-AA1yufwc
Coast Guard conducts alien expulsion flight operations between California and Texas
Feb. 6, 2025
The Coast Guard conducted alien expulsion flights Wednesday between California and Texas.
These flights continue the Coast Guard’s actions to enforce the immigration laws of our country, in accordance with the president’s executive orders.
Led by the Eleventh Coast Guard District in California, the Coast Guard is coordinating multiple units in support of this Department of Homeland Security-led operation.
Through these ongoing operations, the Coast Guard is detecting, deterring and interdicting aliens, drug smugglers and individuals intent on terrorism or other hostile activity before they reach the U.S. border.
The Coast Guard continues to surge assets and personnel from around the nation to enhance presence in key areas and secure U.S. borders and maritime approaches.
The Coast Guard’s role is to assist with the transporting of aliens to designated locations in Texas and California, where the Department of Defense will transport the aliens internationally.
https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/4055845/coast-guard-conducts-alien-expulsion-flight-operations-between-california-and-t/
Enceladus study shows the physics of alien oceans could hide signs of life from spacecraft
February 6, 2025
Searching for life in alien oceans may be more difficult than scientists previously thought, even when we can sample these extraterrestrial waters directly.
A new study focusing on Enceladus, a moon of Saturn that sprays its ocean water into space through cracks in its icy surface, shows that the physics of alien oceans could prevent evidence of deep-sea life from reaching places where we can detect it.
Published 6 February 2025 in Communications Earth and Environment, the study shows how Enceladus's ocean forms distinct layers that dramatically slow the movement of material from the ocean floor to the surface.
Chemical traces, microbes, and organic material—telltale signatures of life that scientists look for—could break down or transform as they travel through the ocean's distinct layers.
These biological signatures might become unrecognizable by the time they reach the surface where spacecraft can sample them, even if life thrives in the deep ocean below.
Flynn Ames, lead author at the University of Reading, said, "Imagine trying to detect life at the depths of Earth's oceans by only sampling water from the surface.
That's the challenge we face with Enceladus, except we're also dealing with an ocean whose physics we do not fully understand.
"We've found that Enceladus' ocean should behave like oil and water in a jar, with layers that resist vertical mixing.
These natural barriers could trap particles and chemical traces of life in the depths below for hundreds to hundreds of thousands of years.
Previously, it was thought that these things could make their way efficiently to the ocean top within several months.
"As the search for life continues, future space missions will need to be extra careful when sampling Enceladus's surface waters."
Using computer models similar to those used to study Earth's oceans, the study has important implications for the search for life in the solar system and beyond.
As scientists discover more ice-covered ocean worlds orbiting the outer planets and distant stars, similar ocean dynamics could confine evidence of life and its building blocks to deeper waters, undetectable from the surface.
Even on worlds like Enceladus, where ocean material is conveniently sprayed into space for sampling, the long journey from deep ocean to surface could erase crucial evidence.
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-enceladus-physics-alien-oceans-life.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02036-3
Efforts to find alien life could be boosted by simple test that gets microbes moving
February 6, 2025
Finding life in outer space is one of the great endeavors of humankind. One approach is to find motile microorganisms that can move independently, an ability that is a solid hint for life.
If movement is induced by a chemical and an organism moves in response, it is known as chemotaxis.
Now, researchers in Germany have developed a new and simplified method for inducing chemotactic motility in some of Earth's smallest life forms. They published their results in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences.
"We tested three types of microbes—two bacteria and one type of archaea—and found that they all moved toward a chemical called L-serine," said Max Riekeles, a researcher at the Technical University of Berlin.
"This movement, known as chemotaxis, could be a strong indicator of life and could guide future space missions looking for living organisms on Mars or other planets."
Extreme survivors
The species included in the study were chosen due to their ability to survive in extreme environments.
The highly motile Bacillus subtilis, in its spore form, can survive extreme conditions and endure temperatures of up to 100°C.
Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis, which is isolated from Antarctic waters, has an aptitude for growing in colder environments, between -2.5° and 29°C.
The archaeon Haloferax volcanii (H. volcanii), belongs to a group similar to bacteria but is genetically different. Its natural habitats include the Dead Sea and other highly saline environments, so it, too, is well adapted to tolerate extreme conditions.
"Bacteria and archaea are two of the oldest forms of life on Earth, but they move in different ways and evolved motility systems independently from each other," Riekeles explained.
"By testing both groups, we can make life detection methods more reliable for space missions."
L-serine, the amino acid the researchers used to get these species moving, has previously been shown to trigger chemotaxis in a wide range of species from all domains of life.
It is also believed to exist on Mars. If life on Mars has a similar biochemistry to life on Earth, it is plausible that L-serine could attract potential Martian microbes.
Moving microbes
The results showed that L-serine worked as an attractor for all three species.
"Especially, the usage of H. volcanii broadens the scope of potential life forms that can be detected using chemotaxis-based methodologies, even when it is known that some archaea possess chemotactic systems," Riekeles explained.
"Since H. volcanii is thriving in extreme salty environments, it could be a good model for the kinds of life we might find on Mars."
The researchers used a simplified approach, which might make the difference between it being feasible on future space missions or not.
Instead of complex equipment, they used a slide with two chambers separated by a thin membrane. Microbes are placed on one side, and the chemical L-serine is added to the other.
"If the microbes are alive and able to move, they swim toward the L-serine through the membrane," Riekeles explained. "This method is easy, affordable, and doesn't require powerful computers to analyze the results."
For this method to work on a space mission, however, some adjustments to the process would be needed, the researchers said.
Smaller and more robust equipment that can survive the harsh conditions of space travel and a system that can work automatically without human intervention are two of them.
Once these difficulties are overcome, microbial movement could help detect microbes that might exist in outer space, for example, in the ocean of Jupiter's moon Europa.
"This approach could make life detection cheaper and faster, helping future missions achieve more with fewer resources," concluded Riekeles.
"It could be a simple way to look for life on future Mars missions and a useful addition for direct motility observation techniques."
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-efforts-alien-life-boosted-simple.html
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/astronomy-and-space-sciences/articles/10.3389/fspas.2024.1490090/full