NASA Developing Unmanned Glider For Mars Mission

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

A small boomerang-shaped aircraft that will go for a test launch later this year could be the first unmanned aerial system to glide over the surface of Mars, if NASA’s project comes to fruition. The Prandtl-m prototype’s test, one of three in the planning stages, will include a launch from a high-altitude balloon at about 100,000 feet to simulate the Martian atmosphere. It’s hoped that the aircraft will ride along on a rover mission slated for 2022-2024 to help survey the Martian landscape. “It would be able to deploy and fly in the Martian atmosphere and glide down and land,” Al Bowers, Prandtl-m program manager, said on NASA’s website. “The Prandtl-m could overfly some of the proposed landing sites for a future astronaut mission and send back to Earth very detailed high resolution photographic map images that could tell scientists about the suitability of those landing sites.”

According to AvWeb ,the composite-built aircraft will be designed to fly for about 10 minutes with a range of 20 miles, gliding from 2,000 feet to the Martian surface. Prandtl-m, short for Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Land on Mars, would measure 24 inches across and weigh a pound on that planet, down from 2.6 pounds on Earth. It’s not clear exactly when the first test would take place, but NASA said it’s planning a second test from a similar altitude in 2016 to try deploying the aircraft from a container before it glides back to Earth. If that’s successful, a third test would be higher yet. “If the Prandtl-m completes a 450,000-foot drop, then I think the project stands a very good chance of being able to go to NASA Headquarters and say we would like permission to ride to Mars with one of the rovers,” Bowers said.