💣 North Korean 'leaf mines' in danger of being washed into South, NASA axes moon ice-hunting VIPER rover, world's tiniest forever-flying solar drone

INTERESTING ENGINEERING SHOP

Following the release of hundreds of air balloons carrying trash into South Korea, North Korea has now devised a new river-based strategy to infiltrate its long-standing rival.

According to South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND), the North Korean military has been installing landmines in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) – a buffer zone between North and South Korea – for several months despite the scorching heat and monsoon rains.

It is common for countries to use landmines to impede the military advancement of their rivals. The intriguing aspect of North Korean landmines is that they resemble leaves. For more on this development, check out today’s Must-Read.

🔥Today’s job of the day as featured on jobs.interestingengineering.com:

> Senior Software Engineer (Network Core Datapath)
> Electrical Hardware Development Engineer

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MUST READ

💣 Rain may wash 40gm explosive-loaded ‘leaf mines’ from North to South Korea

The leaf mines, named after their similar appearance to leaves, contain about 40g of explosives, somewhere between anti-personnel mines (about 20g) and wooden box mines (about 70g). These land mines, colored green and brown, are difficult to see with the naked eye.

However, these landmines are not powerful enough to cause a large explosion but sufficient to inflict serious injury on anyone who steps on them. South Korea’s MND reported that more than ten North Korean casualties occurred due to landmine explosions and thermal injuries during their installation work.

Last year, Russia used such mines denoted as PFM-1 mines or butterfly mines against Ukraine.

🧊No fangs for ice: NASA axes VIPER moon rover after spending $450 million

After pouring hundreds of millions, NASA has made the difficult decision to scrap the VIPER lunar rover due to budgetary constraints.

VIPER, short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, was a robot rover designed to search for ice and other resources near the Moon’s south pole.

It was supposed to launch in late 2023 but faced delays due to additional testing and schedule issues. These delays drove up expenditures, pushing the project beyond budget.

☀️ World’s tiniest, 4-gram solar drone can fly forever with high lift efficiency

Researchers have built an ultralightweight solar-powered drone that is capable of unlimited flight during the daytime.

The device, called ColumbFly, weighs just 4 grams and uses a solar cell to generate electricity, creating an electric field between oppositely charged plates arranged in a circle.

These opposing charges act like repelling magnets, producing enough force to turn the rotor blades. This generates torque, lifting the robot off the ground.

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