Contra-rotating helicopter now based on Mars
 

Fellow Rotorheads, I think it's a great time to jointly celebrate the fact that a rotary-winged unmanned aircraft is now based on Mars following NASAs successful Perseverance Rover landing today. When it launches for an area survey we should collectively (yes pun intended) celebrate pushing aerodynamic lift aviation frontiers further, higher and more distant from Earth than any fixed wing lift machine ever did ! Aptly named Ingenuity. pp.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....292b03d217.jpg

This is pretty awesome!!

Thanks for sharing, didn't know they were doing this. Proud to be a helicopter fan today!

More news here

When will the helicopter launch?

It will be around 10 sols - or Martian days which are about 40 minutes longer than Earth days - before Nasa plans to deploy its onboard helicopter.

It will be the first remote flight on another planet, and is one of the most exciting elements of the Perseverance project.

Scientists say about five flights are planned for the helicopter, dubbed Ingenuity, over the next 30 days.


https://www.bbc.com/news/live/scienc...nment-56101496

Nice article in the Smithsonian Air and Space Magazine:

NASA's Helicopter Ingenuity Will Attempt the First Flight on Mars | Science | Smithsonian Magazine

How and where will it shelter in a (dust) storm? Could the rover come along and to some degree protect this rotor craft?

it is packed into the rover, and comes down from bellow the rover under belly
Very thin air on Mars, those propelers run at 2500RPM, very short autonomy too.
usefull life of the helicopter is limited to 30 flights I think I heard.

If they want a pilot to go to Mars to fly a helicopter in the future as it takes 7 years to travel each way, as I haven't got 14 years left in me, I think I'll give it a miss!

Wasn't one of the surprising things learnt about Mars is the wind and dust is very light.
I seem to recall previous rovers were expected to have a limited life span due to dust build up on the solar panels but this never happened. Which is why the older rovers are still going, or at least went for a lot longer than expected.

That Smithsonian article is well worth a read - as a technology demonstrator it is an incredible achievement, it weighs less than 4 lbs and will fly at an Earth equivalent of 100,000'!!!

Does the operator need a licence or permit to pilot the helicopter on Mars and who woukd they apply too

Launched on 30 July 2020; nearer seven months.

Don’t think so unless Marvin works for the Martian CAA. (We don’t want any “Earth Shattering Kabooms”).
I think it’s all uncontrolled airspace.anyhow and there are no 5 Star hotels for the inspectors to stay in so chances of a base inspection are slim to nil.

Yep, and Elon Musk/SpaceX reckon they can get it down to one month!

They didn't say how.

Never underestimate the power of a droid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_(rover) - expected life 90 sols, actual life >5,000 sols

Its all about power. Refuelling a spacecraft like Starship in earthorbit should solve the problem. The part from launchpad to orbit needs most power

Skadi

Who said anything about coming back? Let's have some commitment here.

Anyone know if a UK licence is ok there ? :rolleyes:

so, one could get in to business without a local license and other nonsense. Where can one sign?

We have all been fooled by Martians
 

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....9cd06dff7b.jpg