NASA To Send Drones To Mars, Flying Drones

NASA has been sending drones to Mars in the form of rovers for decades now with the expressed purpose of exploring the red planet and collecting samples. However, it’s no secret that these rovers are not the most agile of tools nor are they the easiest to maneuver through the rocky terrains of Mars. As such, NASA is thinking of sending a flying drone to the red planet that will provide scientists an aerial view of the planet.

An administrator at NASA, Jim Bridenstine, recently posted a concept clip of the drone on Twitter. It showcased a GIF of the tiny aerial vehicle along with the caption “#BREAKING @NASA news! Our next rover to Mars will carry the first helicopter ever to fly over the surface of another world. #Mars2020 #MarsCopter.”

Now, there are several things about this news to unpack, including the part about there being no recorded instance of a flying vehicle being use on Mars other than the ones used to deliver the rover and consecutive supplied. Once the drone reaches the red planet, it would be the first time that anything would fly over it. At least, it would be the first time that humanity knows about.

As expected, development of the drone came with quite a few challenges, Futurism reports. These included incorporating the weak atmosphere of Mars as a factor in how the tiny copter would fly. There was also the issue of the delay in communications between the drone and the command center at NASA.

Since it still takes several minutes for the signal between Earth and Mars to reach the drone even when traveling at light speed, it’s only natural to make the flying vehicle partially autonomous. Engineering concerns were also encountered when designing the drone, which led to its rotors necessarily rotating at 3,000 times per minute. This is due to the weak atmosphere of Mars, which means less air to work with.