NASA plans to send a helicopter to Mars by 2020 in an article for youth

Over the years, NASA has managed to deployed several rovers, landers and orbiters on Mars. While scientific laboratories continue to provide invaluable the data on the red planet, their limited or zero mobility, as is the case for landers, limit space exploration vehicles to areas close to the original landing site. To obtain a more full Seen from Mars, the US space agency plans to send a fully autonomous miniature test helicopter with the Rover Mars 2020, scheduled for launch in July 2020.

"The ability to see clearly what lies beyond the next hill is crucial for future explorers, "said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate director of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "We already have an unobstructed view of Mars from the surface and from the orbit. With the addition dimension 'Marscopter', we can only imagine what future missions will accomplish. "

The "marscopter" of the size of a softball weighs about four pounds and is equipped with two sets of rotor blades, which can spin at 3000 rpm – about ten times the speed of helicopters on Earth. the lightweight and a fast speed are essential for the plane to fly in the thin atmosphere of Mars, valued to be just one percent of that of the Earth. "To make it fly at this low atmosphere densitywe had to scrutinize do everything, make it as light as possible, while being as strong and powerful as possible, "said Mimi Aung, Mars helicopter project manager at JPL, in a statement. If successful, the tiny helicopter will be the first vehicle heavier than air to fly in the thin atmosphere of Mars!

AT resist At night temperatures of the red planet minus 195 degrees F (minus 125 degrees C), the "marscopter" is equipped with a heating element powered by solar-powered lithium-ion batteries. As it is not possible to communicate with the helicopter in real time from Earth, it will be autonomous enough to receive and to interpret ground controls, then execute the mission on its own.

Upon landing on the Red Planet, the March 2020 rover will find a suitable place to release the helicopter in order to perform its first test flight. The helicopter will start with a short vertical climb, no higher than 10 feet, and float for only 30 seconds before falling back to the surface of Mars. If all goes well, five more and longer flights of up to 90 seconds each will be made in the next 30 days. Short trips will be documented by a small camera and transmitted scientists eagerly waiting on Earth.

The failure of Marscopter to execute will have little impact on the March 2020 mission. However, if it works as planned, the helicopter, the first to fly into another world, will open a new path to explore Martian places that are not accessible by land travel. Susan Gorton, head of NASA's Revolutionary Vertical Lifting Technology (RVLT) Project, said: "The first flight of the Mars helicopter will represent the version of this planet success to Kitty Hawk and the opening of a new era. For those of us whose research is all about theft, it would be a remarkable, historical moment. "

Resources: room.eu.com, Forbes.com, NASA.gov