Helicopter bound for Mars takes flight in Nasa’s latest space race
Tests carried out on a ‘chopper’ that could gather vital data on mission to Red Planet
NASA has successfully completed the first test flight of a helicopter built to fly on Mars, as the space agency looks to find new ways of exploring the red planet.
The helicopter is scheduled to reach Mars in two years’ time as part of Nasa’s Mars 2020 rover mission, which aims to answer key questions such as whether humans could one day live in its harsh environment.
But flying it will not be easy. Controlling a helicopter remotely from hundreds of millions of miles away, in Mars’ thin atmosphere, and temperatures as low as -130F (-90C), is an incredibly difficult technical feat.
To ensure its success, Nasa had to replicate the Red Planet’s environmental conditions at its Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
“The Martian atmosphere is only about 1 per cent the density of Earth’s,” said Mimi Aung, Nasa project manager.
“Our test flights could have similar atmospheric density here on Earth – if you put your airfield 100,000ft up. So you can’t go somewhere and find that. You have to make it.”
The space agency put the 1.8kg helicopter through its paces in a vacuum chamber by replacing nitrogen and oxygen in the air with carbon dioxide – the gas that makes Mars’ atmosphere so thin. According to Teddy Tzanetos, a researcher on the Mars helicopter project, getting the helicopter into an “extremely thin atmosphere” is only part of the challenge. “To truly simulate flying on Mars, we have to take away two thirds of Earth’s gravity, because Mars’ gravity is that much weaker,” he said.
Nasa has equipped the helicopter with propellers that spin 10 times faster than the blades of a helicopter on Earth, so that it can generate enough power to stay in the air.
Eventually, the helicopter will carry a range of communications technology and a high-resolution colour imager, as well as a solar panel and rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
Given Mars’ cold temperatures, it is designed to have heaters to keep its equipment warm.
Made of materials such as carbon fibre, aluminium and silicon, the helicopter will serve as a “technology demonstration” but could one day be used as a scout for rovers on the Martian surface, or more advanced versions could explore on their own.
Momentum has gathered in recent around the exploration of Mars, with the likes of Spacex founder Elon Musk setting the goal of sending humans to the planet 33.9million miles away. The boss of the private space company has previously stated that he would consider moving to the planet himself and expects people to be on their way to Mars by 2024, despite recognising that the “probability of dying on Mars is much higher than on Earth”.
“These initial missions will also serve as the beginnings of the first Mars base, from which we can build a thriving city and eventually a selfsustaining civilisation on Mars,” Spacex’s mission statement says.
Humanity’s future on the red planet is some distance away, but could spring to life depending on the data Nasa’s helicopter and rover can gather. “This recent test of the flight model was the real deal,” said Ms Aung. “This is our helicopter bound for Mars.”