NASA Refining Designs of Mars Helicopters Written 14 April 2023
Artist’s concept of the Mars Helicopter, a small, autonomous rotorcraft. | Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
SPACE reports that NASA is drawing on experience from the Ingenuity Mars helicopter’s nearly 50 flights in designing the two Mars Sample Recovery Helicopters for the Mars Sample Return campaign. At the American Astronautical Society Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Chief Engineer of Autonomy and Aerial Flight Håvard Fjær Grip “outlined plans for how Ingenuity’s guidance, navigation, and control system would be adapted and extended.” In an interview afterwards, he said, “What’s fairly clear is that the fundamental rotorcraft configuration and how we control it has been worked out and is heritage that can be relied upon.”
Full Story (SPACE)