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In this illustration, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter sits on the surface of the red planet as … [+]
NASA / JPL-Caltech
NASA is about to land a helicopter on Mars and is already planning its successor with claws.
On Thursday, February 18, 2021, NASA’s Perseverance Mars 2020 rover will land in Jezero Crater, believed to be an ancient riverbed on the red planet. Strapped to its belly is a small drone called “Ingenuity” that is intended to perform several short powered flights.
It will become the first vehicle to fly over another planet.
However, “Ingenuity” is simply a technology demonstrator, and is only scheduled to run a few short solar-powered test flights over the course of a month.
So what comes next?
Cue the Rover-Aerial Vehicle Exploration Networks (RAVEN) project, a next-generation Mars exploration concept that just received a $ 3.1 million grant from NASA.
Here’s everything you need to know about “Ingenuity” and RAVEN – the future of planetary exploration?
What is ingenuity?
It is an autonomous three-rotor helicopter, a drone, weighing 1.8 kilograms / 4 pounds and will very soon become the first machine to achieve powered flight on another planet in the Solar System.
Its four carbon fiber blades, arranged on two rotors, will rotate in opposite directions at about 2,400 rpm, many times faster than required on Earth, to explain the fact that the atmosphere of Mars is 99% less. dense.
NASA’s plan is to deploy it on the Martian surface in the first 90 days of the mission and then attempt a flight.
What will Ingenuity do on Mars?
After some very short flights, it will fly higher and higher in an attempt to see what is ahead of the Perseverance rover.
It also has a color camera, so you should also be able to image the Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars.
Christopher Hamilton pictured next to a drone in Iceland.
Christopher Hamilton / University of Arizona
What is RAVEN?
RAVEN is a next-generation Mars exploration concept that will seek to build on NASA’s upcoming Mars 2020 mission and hopefully make “rover + drone” the default way to explore a planet’s surface.
RAVEN has some really exciting new technology:
- RAVEN Claw – A prototype grappling device attached to a drone that can collect rocks or collect sand and return cached samples to the rover.
- Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging): a remote sensing method for measuring distances using laser light. RAVEN will create computer-generated 3D terrain models for engineers to return to Earth to help decide where to send the rover.
- Hyperspectral Imaging Camera: This will allow RAVEN to see light at many wavelengths, making it easier to send the rover to the most interesting places on the Martian surface.
Why is RAVEN important?
When NASA explores a previously unvisited object in the Solar System, it approaches it in four stages: flyby, orbit, ground, and then roaming. “With RAVEN, we’re adding ‘flying’ to that list,” said Christopher Hamilton, an associate professor at the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, who oversees a team of 20 scientists and engineers involved in the RAVEN project.
“The whole concept is really geared towards building new technologies and procedures for two robots to work together in an extraterrestrial body,” said Hamilton. “We are going to see how a rover and a drone can work together to maximize the scientific outcome of such a mission.”
Why Martian rovers could use a drone assistant
However, a problem with Mars is how to navigate relatively young volcanic terrain because the surfaces are too rough for a rover to traverse. RAVEN will explore the best way forward, and will also collect and return remote samples from inaccessible sites.
“Volcanic terrains offer interesting targets for exploration because of their potential to generate habitable hydrothermal systems, which could support or preserve microbial life,” said Hamilton. “RAVEN would make such locations accessible for the first time.”
On August 29, 2014, a fissure eruption began in Holuhraun after moving north from Bardarbunga. … [+]
getty
Why is RAVEN being tested in Iceland?
With volcanic terrains similar to those observed on Mars, a freshly baked lava flow in Iceland’s Vatnajökull National Park will act as an analog of Earth.
RAVEN will explore the Holuhraun lava flow field, which was created by an eruption only five years ago, thus lacking vegetation or topsoil. NASA used it to prepare Apollo astronauts to walk on the Moon.
“It is one of the newest real estate in the world,” said Hamilton. “What makes it especially interesting to us is that the lava was placed in a sandy area, which is very similar to what some Martian terrains look like.”
The Martian night can be as cold as -130º Fahrenheit / -90º Celsius. The highlands of Iceland, home to Holuhraun, tend to be colder than 14 ° F / -10 ° C during winter.
What is ‘Dragonfly’?
Dragonfly is the nickname for the “Titan Rotorcraft Lander” that will launch in 2025 and reach Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, one billion miles from Earth, in 2034.
Once there, your two-year mission will be to explore Titan’s prebiotic chemistry.
A quadcopter / drone, Dragonfly will be able to fly away from its mothership every 16 days. Buoyancy will not be a problem as Titan has a dense atmosphere, although checking the safety of each landing site will involve extensive reconnaissance flights.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
