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Yes, well aware of the Soviet Venus missions, including balloons. NASA is promoting it as the first extraterrestrial powered aircraft. Analogous to the Wright B
by Robotbeat 6y ago
Yes, well aware of the Soviet Venus missions, including balloons. NASA is promoting it as the first extraterrestrial powered aircraft. Analogous to the Wright Brothers.
- sandworm101 6y agoSo "aircraft" is narrowed to the subset powered + heavier-than-air aircraft. But there too I would argue with NASA. NASA itself has already flown a heavier than air powered aircraft on mars! They landed the Curiosity rover using a rocket-powered "sky crane". That device was a powered aircraft. It controlled the decent of the rover, delivered it gently onto the ground, and executed an escape maneuver. That was a heavier-than-air, powered, aircraft flying/navigating/performing tasks, over Mars, in 2012. https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/30jul_skycrane/ https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/3... At most, I'll give NASA that this is the first extraterrestrial rotary winged aircraft, the first helicopter.
- Robotbeat 6y agoNo, I meant that NASA stipulated that it was the first powered flight, a nod to the Venus mission as being the first extraterrestrial (unpowered) flight.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Klinky 6y agoI would call this the first "fully-functional" or "multi-mission" aircraft. Vega was a balloon with no controls. Curiosity descent stage was a spacecraft that performed landing maneuvers. Both of these crashed into the surface as part of their mission goals. They barely could qualify as aircraft, and only in the sense that they floated in air briefly before crashing. Neither could be used for multiple missions or actually take off and land under their own power.
- sandworm101 6y agoThe balloon was airborne and transmitting data for 40+minutes. I'll be impressed if this tiny helicopter lasts that long.