NASA has an impressive success with an ingenuity helicopter that has tested on the surface of Mars for weeks now. With the success of a helicopter of ingenuity, NASA engineers have seen the concept for greater and more capable rotorcraft that can be used for future mission.
NASA hopes to continue to fly an ingenuity helicopter and do more missions. Helicopter data is gathering supporting the planning stages for the design of the helicopter in the future by engineers in JPL, Ames Research Center, and Aerovironment. NASA has considered a larger flying vehicle called the Mars Science helicopter.
This will be a six rotor helicopter weighing around 30 kilograms. To compare, much smaller ingenuity is only 1.8 kilograms. With additional masses, Mars science helicopters can carry as many as five kilograms of science and fly up to 10 kilometers per mission. At present, NASA is looking at the application of science and what type of knowledge will be activated by adding air dimensions to the mission.
NASA said having flying ability would allow it to check “special areas” from astrobiological interest without risking contamination. One mission described can see larger Mars helicopters visiting outgoing channels called Mawrth Vallis which is difficult to access. This will collect samples in several locations and restore them to analyze later.
One mystery exactly how much does it cost to build a Mars Science helicopter or when flight opportunities for helicopters may appear. White paper that describes a large Mars science helicopter also has a simpler helicopter design that will be an improved ingenuity version. The team said that it had mass and volume which was quite low and must be considered in all opportunities for launching in the future to the surface of Mars.
However, NASA officials have confirmed that they did not consider the addition of helicopters for the next landing mission. The next mission is the Returns Lander sample which is part of the Mars sample return program which is currently scheduled to be launched no earlier than 2026.