Mars airplane game

In September , an attempt was made to refly the NASA design with a high speed propeller propulsion system. This resulted in disintegration of the aircraft at an altitude above First flight is scheduled for summer of This included development of exploration mission concepts--both purely robotic and with humans in the loop--as well as the underlying critical technologies. A crucial partnership was formed between NASA-Ames and the Naval Research Laboratory, which had been developing folding- and deployable-wing UAV designs for national security applications for more than 10 years.

This is a technology that is critically important for delivering completely autonomous aircraft to the Martian atmosphere for early robotic exploration missions. After astronauts arrive at Mars, the function of aerial platforms will change, as will their design. It is possible to envision a range of aircraft functions and sizes, including small, reconnaissance units to accompany field excursion explorers with a range of a few km, medium size regional explorer sensor platforms teleoperated from a central base, and large vertical take-off and landing platforms capable of transporting high value cargo over medium ranges in much the same way as bush pilot aircraft operate terrestrially, today.

In all cases, such designs must incorporate high reliability, low logistics costs, and use of in-situ produced propellants, where possible. Certain kinds of rock in the crater could even hold evidence of past microbial life on Mars!

The real Perseverance rover will have a helicopter friend, too! It will be a test to see if small aircraft can be used to do science on future Mars missions. Mission to Mars Student Challenge. Make a Moon or Mars Rover Game. If you liked this, you may like: Space Volcanoes! All About Mars. Following a successful high altitude test flight of the basic configuration, additional design refinement led to the current design. The resulting Mars airplane concept enables the high-value science objectives of the ARES mission to be accomplished while also fulfilling the desire for a simple, low-risk design.

Document ID. Document Type. Preprint Draft being sent to journal. Smith, Stephen C. Guynn, Mark D.