4 ms·
Mars Helicopter to Fly on NASA’s Next Red Planet Rover Mission
- polar 8y agoJPL published a video about the idea three years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpBsFzjyRO8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpBsFzjyRO8
- Communitivity 8y agoCreating that helicopter must have been a very interesting and difficult challenge. Lift L for rotor blades is calculated by the equation L = ½ ρ(v^2)ACL, where ρ is atmospheric density. v is the speed of the blades moving through the air (roughly speaking). A is the total blade area. And CL is the coefficient of lift, which is determined by the angle of the helicopter, if I understand it right. Mars' atmospheric density at surface averages .087 psi, roughly .06% of Earth's average (14.69 psi). (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Mars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Mars ) That means right off the bat you're going to need to increase the speed of the blades squared times the total area of the blades (i.e., (v^2)A) by a factor of ~1666.66 just to get the same lift on Mars that you would on earth.