NASA/JPL: Mars Helicopter to Fly on Mars 2020

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bystander
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NASA/JPL: Mars Helicopter to Fly on Mars 2020

Post by bystander » Sat May 12, 2018 1:20 pm

Mars Helicopter to Fly on NASA's Next Red Planet Rover Mission
NASA | JPL-Caltech | Mars 2020 | 2018 May 11

NASA is sending a helicopter to Mars.

Click to play embedded YouTube video.
The Mars Helicopter, a small, autonomous rotorcraft, will travel with the agency’s Mars 2020 rover mission, currently scheduled to launch in July 2020, to demonstrate the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet. ...

Started in August 2013 as a technology development project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Mars Helicopter had to prove that big things could come in small packages. The result of the team's four years of design, testing and redesign weighs in at little under four pounds (1.8 kilograms). Its fuselage is about the size of a softball, and its twin, counter-rotating blades will bite into the thin Martian atmosphere at almost 3,000 rpm -- about 10 times the rate of a helicopter on Earth. ...

The helicopter also contains built-in capabilities needed for operation at Mars, including solar cells to charge its lithium-ion batteries, and a heating mechanism to keep it warm through the cold Martian nights. But before the helicopter can fly at Mars it has to get there. It will do so attached to the belly pan of the Mars 2020 rover. ...
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
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Re: NASA/JPL: Mars Helicopter to Fly on Mars 2020

Post by neufer » Sat May 12, 2018 1:42 pm

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Probe_droid wrote:
  • "An Imperial probe droid."
    "It's a good bet the Empire knows we're here."

    ―Princess Leia Organa and Han Solo
<<A probe droid, also known as a recon droid or probot, was a type of droid that could be used for deep space exploration and reconnaissance, they are tenacious hunters and searchers. Notable models included the DRK-1 Dark Eye probe droid and the Viper probe droid. They could be equipped with both shields and blasters. When the Rebel Alliance moved its headquarters from Yavin 4 to the planet Hoth, the Empire sent probe droids all over the galaxy to find the new base. One such droid, a Viper model having arrived on Hoth from its carrier, began to transmit a live feed of what appeared to be a Power generator to the Empire, leading to an attack a short time later. The droid, however, was intercepted by Han Solo prior to the invasion, warning the Alliance and giving them some time to prepare.>>
Art Neuendorffer

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Mars Helicopter Testing Enters Final Phase

Post by bystander » Sat Jun 08, 2019 2:36 pm

Mars Helicopter Testing Enters Final Phase
NASA | JPL-Caltech | Mars2020 | 2019 Jun 06
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
NASA Chopper Ready for a Spin on Mars ~ Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA's Mars Helicopter flight demonstration project has passed a number of key tests with flying colors. In 2021, the small, autonomous helicopter will be the first vehicle in history to attempt to establish the viability of heavier-than-air vehicles flying on another planet. ...

Back in January 2019 the team operated the flight model in a simulated Martian environment. Then the helicopter was moved to Lockheed Martin Space in Denver for compatibility testing with the Mars Helicopter Delivery System, which will hold the 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) spacecraft against the belly of the Mars 2020 rover during launch and interplanetary cruise before deploying it onto the surface of Mars after landing.

As a technology demonstrator, the Mars Helicopter carries no science instruments. Its purpose is to confirm that powered flight in the tenuous Martian atmosphere (which has 1% the density of Earth's) is possible and that it can be controlled from Earth over large interplanetary distances. But the helicopter also carries a camera capable of providing high-resolution color images to further demonstrate the vehicle's potential for documenting the Red Planet. ...
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

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