Mars aircraft

A Mars aircraft is a vehicle capable of sustaining powered flight in the atmosphere of Mars. So far, the Mars helicopter Ingenuity is the only aircraft[2][3] ever to fly on Mars, completing 63 successful flights covering 14.659 km (9.109 mi) in 1 hour, 55 minutes and 18 seconds of flight time.[4]

NASA Mini-Sniffer flown in the 1970s was designed for Earth air-sensing missions and used hydrazine fuel.[1]
Ingenuity helicopter viewed with Perseverance rover in the background (artwork)

It made the first powered flight on 19 April 2021, taking off from the surface.[5] Previously, the experimental aircraft, NASA Mini-Sniffer, was considered for possible missions to fly in and study Mars' atmosphere, but that idea was abandoned. Aircraft may provide on site measurements of the atmosphere of Mars, as well as additional observations over extended areas. A long-term goal is to develop piloted Mars aircraft.[6]

Compared to Earth, the air on Mars is much thinner at the surface, with pressure less than 1% of Earth's at sea level, requiring a more efficient method to achieve lift. Offsetting that disadvantage, Mars air, mostly consisting of carbon dioxide (CO
2), is denser per unit of volume than Earth air, and gravity on Mars is less than 40% of Earth's.[7][6]

History

In 1918, the Danish science fiction film Himmelskibet (aka A Trip to Mars) featured an aerospace craft called Excelsior for a crewed trip to Mars.[8]

Before the start of Mars exploration with spacecraft, the density of Mars' atmosphere was suspected to be higher than was later measured to be, leading engineers to think that winged flight would be much easier than it actually is. In his "Mars Project" ("Das Marsprojekt") concept,[9] Wernher von Braun proposed winged vehicles for landing human missions on Mars.[6]

The first detailed Mars lander contracted by NASA was to Ford/Philco Aeronutronic in the early 1960s, which was for a lifting body design for the lander; this is when some of best estimates for the Mars atmosphere were significantly denser than revealed by the Mariner IV measurements in July 1965.[10] The lander had a tub-shaped lifting body with winglets, and was one of the first detailed designs for Mars lander although it would not be able to fly in the revised figures for the Mars atmospheric conditions.[10] The Aeronutronic Mars lifting-body lander design was based on Mars atmosphere of mostly nitrogen about 10% of Earth.[10]

July 1965 marked a shift away from lifting body and winged glider style Mars landers to ballistic entry gumdrop style landers.[11]

In the 1970s the Mini-Sniffer aircraft were made in several versions so it could also operate in an all-CO
2 environment.[1] The Mini-Sniffer could run without oxygen by using hydrazine, and the design was considered for sampling the atmosphere of Mars.[12] The airplane had a large propeller to be effective in the thin air and many flights of various configurations were made between 1975 and 1982.[13]

A winged rover design was proposed in the 1970s, to cover more area than the stationary Viking landers.[6] There was a proposal by NASA in the 1990s for a Mars airplane to fly on Mars by the anniversary of the Wright Brothers's first flight, in the "Faster, Better, Cheaper" era.[6] The ARES Mars airplane proposal was selected as a Mars Scout Program candidate, but not selected for flight.

In 2015, a Mars aircraft was considered as an option in the re-boot of the Japanese MELOS mission.[14] One early design proposed a wing-span of 1.2m, a mass of 2.1 kg, and with the following mission profile:[14] During the landing phase of the surface element of MELOS, the aircraft would be released at an altitude of 5 km then fly 4 minutes, covering 25 horizontal km.[14]

On April 19, 2021, the NASA helicopter Ingenuity became the first powered and controlled Mars aircraft to take flight. It originally landed on the planet while stored under the NASA Mars rover Perseverance.[5]

Airplanes
ARES concept

Prototype Mars planes have flown at close to 30 km (98,000 ft) altitude on Earth (in roughly twice of the average air pressure at Mars' surface),[15] and tested expandable wings that cure in ultraviolet light.[16] For flight in Mars' atmosphere, the Reynolds number would be very low compared to flight in Earth's atmosphere.[7] Valles Marineris was targeted for an uncrewed aircraft flight and by Mars' gliders.[17][6]

Gliders could carry more scientific instrumentation, but cover less area.[6] Hydrazine has been proposed as a fuel for Mars aircraft.[6] At one point, NASA was developing plans for a wok-sized airplane "micromission", which would piggyback on a separate Mars bound payload.[6] Mach 1 on Mars can be about 240 m/s (790 ft/s) while it is about 332 m/s (1,090 ft/s) on Earth.[18]

The Daedalus proposal in the canceled Mars Scout program designed a Mars glider that would fly over 400 km (250 mi) along the Coprates Chasma[19]

Proposed Mars airplane concepts include:

  • ARES (Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey)[20]
  • MAGE (Mars Airborne Geophysical Explorer)[17]
  • AME (Airplane for Mars Exploration)[15]
  • MATADOR (Mars Advanced Technology Airplane for Deployment, Operations and Recovery)[15]
  • Sky-Sailor, solar powered airplane with micro-robots[21]
  • Kitty Hawk, multi-glider mission[17]
  • Daedalus, glider with 400+ km range[22] (Mars Scout 2011 proposal)[19]
  • ARMaDA, "Advanced Reconnaissance Martian Deployable Aircraft"[23]
  • MAREA, "Martial Aerial Research Euroavia Airplane"[23]
  • Prandtl-M[24] (Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Land on Mars)[25]
  • NASA Mini-Sniffer, considered for sampling the atmosphere of Mars, tested running on hydrazine (air independent).[13]

Balloons

Balloons may provide an alternative to parachutes, allowing for a soft landing.[26] A balloon could allow a lander to take off and land at a new site.[26] Two types of balloon technology are super-pressure and Montgolfiere.[26] The super-pressure balloons try to contain the pressure caused by heating to maintain altitude.[26]

The Montgolfiere would use heated Martian air to create lift.[26] An example of concept for Mars balloon was the Mars Geoscience Aerobot.[27] Some work has been done to develop extremely thin, flexible solar cells that could allow a balloon's skin itself to generate power from the Sun.[28]

Airships with vacuum used to create lift have also been proposed.[29][30]

Rotorcraft
Ingenuity helicopter deployed at Wright Brothers Field on the surface of Mars

In 2002 a paper was published suggesting autonomous robotic helicopters for Mars exploration would be possible for the Mars Scout Program.[31] A number of advantages of a viable rotorcraft design were noted, including the ability to pass over difficult Mars terrain yet still visit multiple sites in situ.[31] The short hop made by Lunar Surveyor 6 in 1967 was noted as example of hopping to visit another site.[31]

Project design of the future Mars Science Helicopter

Ingenuity, part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission, is a robotic helicopter that was deployed from the Perseverance rover and demonstrated the first rotorcraft flight in the atmosphere of Mars.[32] NASA will be able to build on the design for future Mars missions.[33]

Other aircraft and airborne devices
Other airborne devices
Viking 1 aeroshell
Curiosity rover lowered from sky crane (artwork)
  • Hypersonic gliders were proposed by Wernher von Braun.[6]
  • Various parachutes have been the main air-borne device
  • Rocket-sustained flight as in the case of retro-rockets have also been a part of landing systems
  • Aeroshells from various spacecraft
  • A rocket powered hopper (e.g. Mars Geyser Hopper)
  • Entomopter

Virtual

The Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera can both provide virtual Mars flyovers by draping surface pictures over 3D terrain models.[34][35][36]

See also

References
  1. "Mini-Sniffer". 2015-09-28.
  2. mars.nasa.gov. "Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) - NASA". mars.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  3. "Curiosity's Sky Crane Maneuver, Artist's Concept - NASA". Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  4. "Flight Log". Mars Helicopter Tech Demo. NASA. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  5. "NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Succeeds in Historic First Flight". NASA. April 19, 2021. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  6. "Oliver Morton – MarsAir : How to build the first extraterrestrial airplane". Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  7. "Development and Flight Testing of a UAV with Inflatable-Rigidizable Wings" (PDF). University of Kentucky. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-17. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  8. Miklós, Vincze (August 15, 2013). "Astounding Spaceship Designs From Before The Space Age". io9.
  9. von Braun, Wernher (1991) [1952]. The Mars Project (2nd ed.). University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06227-8.
  10. "The Road to Mars..." Air & Space Magazine. Retrieved 2018-07-19.
  11. "Gumdrops on Mars (1966)".
  12. "NASA Dryden Mini-Sniffer Photo Collection". www.dfrc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
  13. "NASA Dryden Mini-Sniffer Photo Collection".
  14. "Current plan of the MELOS, a proposed Japanese Mars mission" (PDF). February 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  15. Mars Airplane – Ames Research Center
  16. BIG BLUE: High-Altitude UAV Demonstrator of Mars Airplane Technology
  17. John F. McGowan, Ph.D. – Wings on Mars (December 3, 1999)
  18. "Mars Science Laboratory Mission Profile". Archived from the original on 2011-02-21. Retrieved 2012-08-21.
  19. "Daedaluspresentation".
  20. Ares Mars Airplane website Archived 2010-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
  21. Sky-Sailor
  22. Daedalus (April 2005)
  23. Euroavia students design Martian aerial vehicle (ESA)
  24. Could This Become the First Mars Airplane? NASA June 2015
  25. Anderson, Paul Scott (2015-07-01). "Flying the Friendly Martian Skies: NASA to Test Mars Airplane Prototype". AmericaSpace. Retrieved 2018-07-19.
  26. NASA – Mars Balloons
  27. "Mars Balloon Trajectory Model for Mars Geoscience Aerobot Development (1997)". Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
  28. Concepts and Approaches for Mars Exploration (2012)
  29. "Future Tech: Martian Airships".
  30. Clarke, John-Paul (Apr 6, 2017). "Evacuated Airship for Mars Missions". NASA. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  31. Young, Larry; Aiken, E.W.; Gulick, Virginia; Mancinelli, Rocco; Briggs, Geoffrey (2002-02-01). Rotorcraft as Mars Scouts. Vol. 1. pp. 1–378 vol.1. doi:10.1109/AERO.2002.1036856. ISBN 978-0780372313. S2CID 32275132.
  32. "Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Landing Press Kit" (PDF). NASA. January 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  33. Mars Helicopter Technology Demonstrator, J. (Bob) Balaram, Timothy Canham, Courtney Duncan, Matt Golombek, Håvard Fjær Grip, Wayne Johnson, Justin Maki, Amelia Quon, Ryan Stern, and David Zhu. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), SciTech Forum Conference; 8–12 January 2018, Kissimmee, Florida doi:10.2514/6.2018-0023 Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  34. "TPS – Unbelievably spectacular flight through Candor ChasmaMar. 9, 2010". Archived from the original on 2012-04-10. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  35. Highlight of the Month January: Mawrth Vallis Animation (2012)
  36. "Flyover Animation of Becquerel Crater on Mars". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Archived from the original on 2013-06-03. Retrieved 2013-08-22.
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