NASA will be test heavier - than - air flight on Mars by charge miniature robot helicopter with the forthcoming Mars 2020 rover .
The four - pound helicopter ’s rotor will spin at 3,000 rpms , 10 times faster than helicopters here on Earth , agree to a NASA passing . That ’s because the Martian aura is only about 1 percent the density of Earth ’s .
“ To make it fly at that low atmospherical tightness , we had to scrutinize everything , make it as light as possible while being as impregnable and as brawny as it can possibly be , ” Mimi Aung , Mars Helicopter project manager at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory , said ina statement .
But the atmosphere is n’t the only challenge . Mars is several wanton - moment off from Earth , so you ca n’t just curb the chopper with a remote . Instead , the researchers need to program a list of commands autonomously , as they do for the rovers .
The copter is fructify to fly up to five times during its 30 - day test scarper on Mars , increase in tallness to around a thousand foot for up to 90 second . Its first flight will last 30 second and climb to 10 feet .
This is an challenging , observational mission not decisive to the success of Mars 2020 . But if it ferment , it could tender a newfangled way for scientist to search the Martian surface .
The Mars 2020 rover , meanwhile , will be busy hunting for signs of life sentence and analyzing rock . We human race would like to claver Mars one mean solar day , after all , so it will be significant to understand the planet ’s structure and hazards as best we can . Mars 2020 will get in on the red planet by February 2021 , if everything goes according to plan .
But if you ’re athirst for Martian science now , you ’re in luck . The InSight landersuccessfully take offaboard an Atlas V Eruca sativa this calendar month and is now on its way to our rocky blood-red neighbor . It will come at Mars around Thanksgiving of this class , where it will quantify seismal activity to help scientists understand how rocky planet germinate . And the European Space Agency ’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has just begun sending backfabulous imagesof the Martian surface .
Anyway , we ’re putting a freaking helicopter on Mars !
MarsNASAScience
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