The X-47B prototype on Tuesday flew off an aircraft carrier and into the history books. Today's achievement, the first-ever catapult launch of an unmanned aircraft from the flight deck of a carrier, promises to open up a new chapter in the annals of naval aviation. Photo: An X-47B pilot-less drone combat aircraft is launched for the first time off an aircraft carrier, the USS George H. W. Bush, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia, May 14, 2013. The U.S. Navy made aviation history on Tuesday by catapulting an unmanned jet off an aircraft carrier for the first time, testing a long-range, stealthy, bat-winged plane that represents a jump forward in drone technology. (Photo by Jason Reed/Reuters)

Coloured X-ray of a barn owl. A physicist has used X-ray to create an extraordinary collection of artwork. Arie van't Riets pictures reveal birds, fish, monkeys and flowers in an incredible new light. The 66-year-old, from Bathmen in the Netherlands, began X-raying flowers as a means to teach radiographers and physicians how the machine worked. But after adding a bit of colour to the pictures, the retired medical physicist realised the potential for an exciting new collection of art. (Photo by Arie van't Riet/Barcroft Media)

Japan's On-Art Corp's eight metre tall dinosaur-shaped mechanical suit robot “TRX03” performs during its unveiling in Tokyo, Japan November 10, 2016. Stomping and roaring dinosaurs took to the stage in Tokyo on Thursday as part of a presentation for a proposed entertainment park where visitors will be able to see the realistic replicas first-hand. Japanese firm ON-ART Corp. unveiled man-operated robotic models of raptors, an allosaurus and a tyrannosaurus rex, in a performance at a hotel hall. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

Japan's ON-ART Corp's staff repaints the company's eight metre tall man-operated walking dinosaur robot “TRX03” at the company's studio in Tokorozawa, Japan, December 6, 2016. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

A robot is seen on Mount Etna, Italy on July 4, 2017. Mount Etna, in Sicily, is a test bed for the approximately three-foot high, four-wheeled machine ahead of a future mission to the moon. It is being conducted by the German Aerospace Centre, the agency which runs Germany's space programme. (Photo by Antonio Parrinello/Reuters)

German KUKA Robotics' robot LBR iiwa demonstrates a flower arrangement at the International Robot exhibition in Tokyo, Wednesday, December 2, 2015. (Photo by Shizuo Kambayashi/AP Photo)

Students from Vida Nueva School present their dinosaur robot built with recycled materials during the annual robotics fair supported by the Bolivian Education Ministry in La Paz, August 10, 2015. (Photo by David Mercado/Reuters)

HRP-4C, a five-foot humanoid robot developed at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, sings and dances with performers at the Digital Contents Expo in Tokyo on October 17, 2010. The robot runs entertainment software called Choreonoid, a name formed from the words “choreograph” and “humanoid”. (Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP)