NASA sending first autonomous helicopter to Mars in 2020May 12, 2018 - 12:59 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The next vehicle NASA is sending to Mars nestles somewhere between a rover and a satellite, at least in terms of altitude. The agency is bundling an autonomous helicopter with the Mars 2020 rover to test airborne vehicles on the red planet, Engadget says. The drone weighs 1.8 kilograms (just under four pounds) and the dual, counter-rotating blades will spin at around 3,000 rpm, roughly 10 times the rate of a regular helicopter. That high blade rotation is important to get the helicopter airborne because of the low atmospheric density on Mars -- when the drone's on the ground, it'll already be at an Earth-equivalent altitude of 100,000 feet. NASA also packed in a heating mechanism to help the drone survive the frigid Mars nights. After the rover lands, it will place the helicopter on the ground and retreat to a safe distance. Once the drone has charged its batteries using solar cells and run through some tests, the rover will relay commands to it from controllers on Earth. NASA hopes the helicopter will ascend to around 10 feet and hover there for around 30 seconds on its first flight. The agency will test the drone over a 30-day period and try up to four additional flights, eventually hoping to keep the helicopter in the air for as long as 90 seconds and let it roam for a few hundred meters. A successful test could open the door to using helicopters as scouts on future missions, surveying terrain that might be difficult for rovers to navigate and even accessing locations that are unreachable via ground travel. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been developing the helicopter since 2013, and eventually shrunk the fuselage to around the size of a softball to help make the drone viable. The helicopter and rover are scheduled to launch in July 2020 and land on Mars seven months later. Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | Scholz hopes Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty will be signed this year German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hopes that a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be signed this year. Armenia, Russia discuss life extension of Metsamor nuclear plant Issues regarding the extension of life of the 2nd power unit of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant were discussed in Yerevan. Armenians stage more campaigns against territorial concessions to Azerbaijan Protesters blocked more roads across Armenia on Friday, April 26 in continuing attempts to scuttle territorial concessions to Azerbaijan. Czech-Armenian military cooperation discussed in Yerevan A delegation led by the Director General for the Industrial Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic visited Armenia. |