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Really loving this project. Still wondering though how you can spend $85 million developing a 1.8kg drone helicopter? And how do you actually come up with the e

Really loving this project. Still wondering though how you can spend $85 million developing a 1.8kg drone helicopter? And how do you actually come up with the estimate to get the budget approved? Yes I understand all the challenges of delivery to a distant planet, the thin atmosphere and lower gravity and extreme temperatures, but wow.

jshmrsn 6y ago
Veritasium has a great video on the helicopter. Early on in the video they explain that Mars’ atmosphere is equivalent in density to Earth’s atmosphere at 100,000 feet, and the record altitude for helicopters on earth is 40,000 feet. https://youtu.be/GhsZUZmJvaM https://youtu.be/GhsZUZmJvaM
- Shivetya 6y ago
  Since the rover has a microphone I wonder how through the thin air the helicopter will sound?
  - jshmrsn 6y ago
    They actually have a clip of the sound in the video, and if I remember correctly that sound was recorded in the 1% atmosphere chamber, so should sound similar to how it would sound on Mars.
    - pimlottc 6y ago
      Direct link to footage of test flight with audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhsZUZmJvaM&t=343s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhsZUZmJvaM&t=343s
- virtue3 6y ago
  I was about to link his video as well. It's really amazing how the ubiquity of all this technology makes people not realize how friggin hard the problems JPL faces are. The friggin rover comes down off a SKYHOOK. Off a rocket platform. And it weighs almost as much as a compact car. CMON.
TaylorAlexander 6y ago
Testing. Gotta use a giant vacuum chamber to test to see if it will fly. Gotta test to make sure the release mechanism that drops it works perfectly no matter what happens to the system. Gotta make sure it can’t get itself stuck and damage the parent robot. Gotta make sure every last detail is perfect cause you only get one chance and there’s no repair crews.

jshmrsn 6y ago

Veritasium has a great video on the helicopter. Early on in the video they explain that Mars’ atmosphere is equivalent in density to Earth’s atmosphere at 100,000 feet, and the record altitude for helicopters on earth is 40,000 feet. https://youtu.be/GhsZUZmJvaM https://youtu.be/GhsZUZmJvaM

Shivetya 6y ago
Since the rover has a microphone I wonder how through the thin air the helicopter will sound?
- jshmrsn 6y ago
  They actually have a clip of the sound in the video, and if I remember correctly that sound was recorded in the 1% atmosphere chamber, so should sound similar to how it would sound on Mars.
  - pimlottc 6y ago
    Direct link to footage of test flight with audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhsZUZmJvaM&t=343s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhsZUZmJvaM&t=343s
virtue3 6y ago
I was about to link his video as well. It's really amazing how the ubiquity of all this technology makes people not realize how friggin hard the problems JPL faces are. The friggin rover comes down off a SKYHOOK. Off a rocket platform. And it weighs almost as much as a compact car. CMON.

TaylorAlexander 6y ago

Testing. Gotta use a giant vacuum chamber to test to see if it will fly. Gotta test to make sure the release mechanism that drops it works perfectly no matter what happens to the system. Gotta make sure it can’t get itself stuck and damage the parent robot. Gotta make sure every last detail is perfect cause you only get one chance and there’s no repair crews.