Monday 4 July 2022 04:45 PM NASA scientist designs albatross-inspired SPACE GLIDER that could soar above ... trends now
Scientists have developed a glider that will soar above the surface of Mars 'like an albatross' for days at a time.
The motorless sailplane could be used to collect data about the atmosphere and geology on the Red Planet once deployed.
It weighs 11 pounds (5 kg), and has an eleven-foot wingspan that matches that of the world's largest seabird.
The sailplane can be transported to Mars by a miniature satellite, before unfurling its folded-up wings and taking flight, using only wind energy for propulsion.
Its unique flight pattern allows it to use the wind to fly around geologic formations on the planet, like canyons and volcanoes.
A prototype was created by a NASA planetary scientist and aerospace experts at the University of Arizona, which was lifted into Earth's atmosphere by balloons over a desert landscape that mimics Martian terrain.
Project leader Dr Alex Kling, a research scientist in NASA's Mars Climate Modeling Center said: 'With this platform, you could just fly around and access those really interesting, really cool places.'
The team conducted a tethered launch of an early version of the sailplane in Arizona, USA, in which it descended slowly to Earth attached to a balloon
Aerospace engineering doctoral student Adrien Bouskela (left) and engineering professor Sergey Shkarayev (right) hold an experimental sailplane. The researchers hope NASA will fund a 'catch a ride' mission of their plane on another spacecraft headed to Mars
The sailplanes will contain an array of navigation sensors, as well as a camera and temperature and gas sensors to gather information about the Martian atmosphere and landscape
Eight active spacecraft currently orbit Mars and gather imagery of its surface at a resolution of about one foot per pixel.
There are also three rovers traversing the flat, sandy ground where they can safely land, and mapping small areas with greater precision.
But what lies in the 200 miles between them – including climate processes and huge geological features such as mountains – is of interest to scientists and requires further study.
NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter, which was deployed on the planet last year, is designed to explore this space, but but can only fly for a maximum of three minutes at a time.
The glider, described in the journal Aerospace, will be able to stay airborne for a lot longer, and explore the area using its flight, temperature and gas sensors as well as cameras.
Dr Kling said: 'You have this really important, critical piece in this planetary boundary layer, like in the first few kilometres above the ground.
'This is where all the exchanges between the surface and atmosphere happen.
'This is where the dust is picked up and sent into the atmosphere, where trace gases are mixed, where the modulation of large-scale winds by mountain-valley flows happen, and we just don't have very much data about it.'
Proposal for the entry, descent and landing of the sailplane with the Mars 2020 Rover System
The sailplane can be released into Mars' atmosphere and then unfold its wings like origami
The team hopes NASA will fund a 'catch a ride' mission of the sailplane on another spacecraft headed to Mars.
The planes can be carried in CubeSats – tiny satellites not much larger than a phone book – that can be deployed by the larger