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A helicopter on Mars is a challenge due to the low air density: https://youtu.be/GhsZUZmJvaM https://youtu.be/GhsZUZmJvaM
by cjg 6y ago
A helicopter on Mars is a challenge due to the low air density: https://youtu.be/GhsZUZmJvaM https://youtu.be/GhsZUZmJvaM
- duxup 6y agoI've seen some proposals for little drones on landings on other planets / moons and I always wonder about the air density + potential for it often being too windy to fly. Of course I say this coming from my perspective of flying a cheap $100 drone here on earth.
- Robotbeat 6y agoWindiness isn’t that big of a problem, usually, in part because the air is so thin. Other than the Earth, there are only 3 places (other than the gas giants, where landing is literally impossible but dynamic soaring and balloons are feasible) where you can fly a drone: Venus, Mars, and Titan. Mars and Titan are further away from the Sun so the atmosphere’s are not as energetic. Venus has crazy high altitude winds, but the wind shear isn’t necessarily too bad. Near the surface, it’s extremely hot (like a kiln glowing very dull red), so usual flight isn’t feasible but a metal balloon might be since the CO2 atmosphere is extremely dense, 2 order of magnitudes more dense than air & only an order of magnitude less dense than water. Higher altitudes are much cooler (like Earth sea level), although you do have to deal with acid droplets. Venus is the only place beyond Earth that there has been sustained flight. Two Soviet balloons. Mars is super thin atmosphere but lower gravity. So travel is theoretically efficient if you can do wingborne flight, but there aren’t any landing strips and the landing and takeoff speeds are high. NASA did test the Helios aircraft at extremely high Earth altitudes (over 96,000 feet) which could in principle maintain near indefinite wingborne flight at Mars (especially with modern solar cells and Lithium batteries). A lightweight helicopter, though, solves the “no landing strip” problem. Titan has both low gravity AND high density atmosphere, so flight is extremely easy. Winds are low. No sunlight to speak of, so it must be nuclear powered if you want very long duration, unlike the other two places. So NASA is sending a robotic multicopter there called DragonFly. Much heavier and more capable and longer range than the small Mars helicopter. https://youtu.be/xn3-0a19sC8 https://youtu.be/xn3-0a19sC8 The model shown in that video is not to scale. It’s actually big enough to ride like a motorcycle.