Vertiflite May/June 2021

Balaram said that his team has started looking at future Mars helicopter designs with 10 times the mass and capable of carrying about 10 lb (4.5 kg) of instruments. A current NASA-funded research study theorizes that between 30% and 99% of Mars’ water is trapped in minerals in the planet’s crust, countering the long- held view that most of the planet’s water evaporated into space. Ingenuity could aid Perseverance in validating this research. While Ingenuity was not designed for a lengthy mission and prolonged exposure to the harsh elements on Mars, the rotorcraft could be useful beyond 30 days. Provided Ingenuity passes its five flight tests and remains operational, why not extend the mission a few weeks to see if it can fly higher and farther? Further tests of the craft’s turning and mapping capabilities could be valuable for future rotorcraft-included Mars missions. The information also could be shared with the team of the 2026 Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s largest moon Titan (see “Titan’s Dragonfly: To the Heavens and Beyond,” Vertiflite Nov/Dec 2019). During the pre-first flight press briefing, the question of how long Ingenuity could last and whether the mission could be extended indefinitely elicited back-to-back short answers from Braun and Glaze. “It is not conceivable” for the Ingenuity to last a long time, said Braun, an authority in the development of entry, descent and landing systems. Glaze added that Ingenuity was designed to last for “as long as we needed it to.”

A Little Bit of VFS in Ingenuity

20+ YEARS: CONCEPT TO REAL DEAL

Year 2000 Martian Autonomous Rotary-wing Vehicle (MARV) University of Maryland NASA / Sikorsky / VFS Winning Design 2000

Year 2020 Ingenuity NASA / AeroVironment Mars 2020 mission

Blade span: 4.3 m Mass: 50 kg Endurance: 39 min Gust rejection: 7 m/s

Blade span: 1.2 m Mass: 1.8 kg Endurance: 90 sec Gust rejection: 10 m/s Flight range: Up to 300 m Flight altitude: Up to 5 m

Flight range: Up to 25 km Flight altitude: Up to 100 m

Much has been written about the plans and development progress for Ingenuity; see “Red Planet Rotorcraft,” Vertiflite , July/August 2018 and “NASA Mars Helicopter Team Striving for a ‘Kitty Hawk’ Moment,” Vertiflite , May/June 2020. VFS even played a small part in early studies, with the Society’s 2000-2001 Student Design Competition — sponsored that year by Sikorsky and NASA (led by Larry Young of NASA Ames) — focusing on Mars rotorcraft. The winning University of Maryland design, led by then-graduate student Anubhav Datta, is nearly identical in basic appearance to Ingenuity (see “Martian VTOL Research Studies,” Vertiflite , July/August 2018). Datta stated that the Society’s 2000 Student Design Competition “established the feasibility of a Mars Helicopter and generated the first serious detailed designs” of aircraft that were capable of vertical flight in the thin atmosphere of Mars. After working as a researcher at the NASA Ames Research Center (2007– 2015), Datta continued supporting the NASA Mars Helicopter development (2015–2017). “I certainly credit my expertise on Mars and my involvement in this project to that VFS design.” See www.vtol.org/mars for more on early research on Mars rotorcraft from the past several decades.

“Now, 117 years after the Wright brothers succeeded in making the first flight on our planet, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has succeeded in performing this amazing feat on another world,” NASA Associate Administrator for Science Thomas Zurbuchen said. “As an homage to the two innovative bicycle makers from Dayton, this first of many airfields on other worlds will now be known as Wright Brothers Field, in recognition of the ingenuity and innovation that continue to propel exploration.” Larger, more robust and capable offspring of Ingenuity could offer what rovers and satellites cannot — a close-up aerial view of Mars’ topography. High-resolution photos and video could advance and expedite science on the Red Planet. Asked if humans could be carried on a Mars rotorcraft, Ravich said, “We could do it probably. Ultimately, it is a power-versus- mass problem.”

“Even if Ingenuity flies once for only 20 seconds, it is still an enormous victory, and a landmark accomplishment in my mind,” said Datta before the inaugural flight. “Our concern is always the local gust conditions, particularly with no aerodynamic damping in flap,” he added. Another worry was how to cool Ingenuity’s motors with the lower air density on Mars. As for speed, the maximum design speed for Ingenuity is 10 m/s. So, testing Ingenuity at higher speed was unnecessary, said Datta. A Broad Team The Mars Ingenuity team is comprised of personnel from JPL, NASA Ames Research Center and NASA Langley Research Center.

May / June 2021

JPL is responsible for the fuselage and integrating various

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