The NASA rovers trundling across Mars have revealed tantalizing details of a world of lost opportunity. An atmosphere almost shrugged off, and a planet shriveled dry. The water is all gone, or so it appears. Humankind’s survival could depend on what we find. We could learn how to live under such arid conditions. We are hoping the Mars Helicopter Scout will reveal all there is to see soon.
Latest Information about the Mars Helicopter Scout
The Mars Helicopter Scout is a 5.5-inch cube, with twin 43-inch, counter-rotating blades. The power is by a 220-watt, solar powered rechargable lithium battery. The payload is a high-resolution downward-facing camera.
NASA will use this for navigation and landing, and scientific surveying of the terrain. Communication to earth will be via the 2020 Mars Rover, which will land with the Mars Helicopter Scout riding piggyback. Once settled, the rover will gently detach the scout, and place it on the ground. Then it will move away to a safe distance while the scout charges its battery and prepares to fly.
What NASA Hopes the Helicopter Will Achieve
This is primarily a demonstrator mission. The autonomous vehicle will act on instructions from Earth. The $23 million Mars Helicopter Scout has a three-minute flying range between charges, during which time it hopes to traverse 2,000 feet daily.
The sub-mission objective is to outline routes for the 2020 Mars Rover, identify hazardous obstacles, and find points of interest. Its high-resolution images will be ten times sharper than those from orbital satellites. The rover may be able to move three times faster than before, now it knows what waits for it over the next rise.
The Mars 2020 Mission will depart Earth sometime during the July 2020 to September 2020 launch window. Getting around Mars has been a tricky business filled with uncertainly but with high hopes. The overall mission objective is to look for evidence of life on the planet, present or past. And as usual, batteries will power the event.
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Preview Image: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4457
Video Share Link: https://youtu.be/oOMQOqKRWjU
