If you want to travel to distant stars, or find life on another world, it takes a bit of planning. That's why NASA has established NIAC, the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts. For the past several years, NASA has been encouraging scientists and engineers to think outside the box, to come up with ideas just this side of science fiction. Their hope is that some of these ideas will pan out, and provide the agency with technologies it can use 20, 30, or 40 years down the road.
Read more:http://www.universetoday.com/2005/12/09/hopping-microrobots/?9122005
Read more:http://www.universetoday.com/2005/12/09/hopping-microrobots/?9122005