2023 Author: Bryan Walter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 22:24
The tests and refinement of the unmanned vehicle Mars Helicopter, which was developed for the Mars-2020 mission, will be completed this summer. After that, the helicopter will be combined with the rover and prepared for launch, which will take place in a year, according to the website of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
An unmanned helicopter Mars Helicopter will fly to Mars in July 2020 along with a new rover as part of the Mars 2020 mission. Its mission is to demonstrate the performance and effectiveness of unmanned aerial vehicles on research missions to other planets in the solar system. In particular, the device must show that it is capable of flying in a rarefied Martian atmosphere and at the same time being controlled from the Earth. The weight of the drone is 1, 8 kilograms, it is made according to a coaxial helicopter scheme with two counter-rotating main rotors with wide blades. The spacecraft will receive energy for flights and heating from lithium-ion batteries recharged from solar panels. There is no scientific equipment on board, but it is equipped with a color camera that allows you to get high-quality images.
It is assumed that within a month after arriving on Mars, Mars Helicopter will first be sent on a test flight of 30 seconds with a rise of three meters, after which the drone will make at least five long-distance flights, the duration of which will reach 90 seconds, and the flight altitude will be up to several hundred meters.
The device has already been tested in conditions that simulate the Martian atmosphere, and made two test flights on Earth. The helicopter was then transported to a division of Lockheed Martin Space in Denver, where it underwent thermal, electrical and vibration tests in flight configuration, after which it returned to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in May 2019 for further testing and improvements. In particular, the helicopter has already received new solar panels, and engineers have tested the blades.
It is assumed that the final tests and improvements will end this summer, after which the helicopter will be delivered to a clean room for integration with the rover, but the exact date of this event has not yet been determined. However, the engineers note that testing of some systems of the helicopter will continue until the launch of the mission to Mars.
Earlier, we talked about how specialists at the Langley Research Center proposed expanding the capabilities of future Mars rovers by making them carriers of drones. It is assumed that the devices will be stored in special niches inside the rover, where they will be protected from dust and will be able to recharge the batteries.
