3 ms·
Would inflatable wings/bodies work on Mars or a similar low pressure environment?
by bloopernova 2y ago
Would inflatable wings/bodies work on Mars or a similar low pressure environment?
- hi-v-rocknroll 2y agoIf you searched the web, inflatable bodies have been used. The problem is Mars atmosphere is 2% and gravity is 38% that of Earth's. Gravity-corrected wing loading to reach the equivalent of say a small plane on Earth would require 20x the wing area. A proposal demonstrator of this was suggested in a paper: https://www.icas.org/ICAS_ARCHIVE/ICAS2014/data/papers/2014_0478_paper.pdf https://www.icas.org/ICAS_ARCHIVE/ICAS2014/data/papers/2014_...
- tooltechgeek 2y agowouldn’t the lower density be equivalent to a higher altitude on earth? Propellers would be not effective but some type of jet or rocket would?
- hi-v-rocknroll 2y agoSure. It likely also means different wing geometry and it needs to move faster.