{"id":18523,"date":"2018-05-11T18:12:56","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T10:12:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-adds-a-drone-to-its-2020-mars-rover\/"},"modified":"2018-05-11T18:12:56","modified_gmt":"2018-05-11T10:12:56","slug":"nasa-adds-a-drone-to-its-2020-mars-rover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-adds-a-drone-to-its-2020-mars-rover\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA adds a drone to its 2020 Mars rover"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_419369\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-419369\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-419369\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/180511-mars-helicopter-630x431.jpg\" alt=\"Mars Helicopter\" width=\"630\" height=\"431\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/180511-mars-helicopter-630x431.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/180511-mars-helicopter.jpg 754w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-419369\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist\u2019s conception shows the Mars Helicopter. (NASA \/ JPL-Caltech Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has given the thumbs-up to putting a helicopter on Mars.<\/p>\n<p>The Mars Helicopter, which is actually more of an autonomous drone, will be packed into the belly pan of a Red Planet rover that\u2019s due for launch in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>For months, mission planners and scientists have been debating whether it\u2019d be worth flying the 4-pound rotorcraft for a 30-day test campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Adding the drone to the rover potentially takes away from the space and time that can be devoted to other scientific experiments. But in today\u2019s announcement, Bridenstine said the helicopter would build on NASA\u2019s \u201cproud history of firsts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe idea of a helicopter flying the skies of another planet is thrilling,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Mars Helicopter holds much promise for our future science, discovery and exploration missions to Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Mars Helicopter started out as a technology development project at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2013. It has a fuselage that\u2019s about the size of a softball, solar cells to charge its lithium-ion batteries and a heating mechanism to keep it warm through Martian nights that can get far colder than 100 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n<p>The mission plan calls for the rover to set the drone down on the surface, drive away and relay the commands for up to five autonomous flights, lasting as long as 90 seconds each and ranging up to a few hundred yards (meters) away. The copter won\u2019t be controllable in real time from Earth, due to the light-speed travel time involved.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"NASA Mars Helicopter Technology Demonstration\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oOMQOqKRWjU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Because Mars\u2019 atmospheric density is only 1 percent of Earth\u2019s, NASA says the drone\u2019s twin, counter-rotating blades would have to turn at nearly 3,000 rpm&nbsp;\u2013 about 10 times the rate of a helicopter on Earth.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate, said the demonstration could blaze a trail for future robotic scouts on Mars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ability to see clearly what lies beyond the next hill is crucial for future explorers,\u201d said Zurbuchen. \u201cWe already have great views of Mars from the surface as well as from orbit. With the added dimension of a bird\u2019s-eye view from a \u2018marscopter,\u2019 we can only imagine what future missions will achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing NASA\u2019s budget, played up the flight demonstration\u2019s inspirational value.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s fitting that the United States of America is the first nation in history to fly the first heavier-than-air craft on another world,\u201d Culberson said in NASA\u2019s news release. \u201cThis exciting and visionary achievement will inspire young people all over the United States to become scientists and engineers, paving the way for even greater discoveries in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Mars 2020 rover is being prepared for launch in July 2020, with its landing on the Red Planet planned for February 2021. One of the rover\u2019s key tasks will be to collect samples of Martian rock and soil that could be returned to Earth during a follow-up mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows the Mars Helicopter. (NASA \/ JPL-Caltech Illustration) NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has given the thumbs-up to putting a helicopter on Mars. The Mars Helicopter, which is actually more of an autonomous drone, will be packed into the belly pan of a Red Planet rover that\u2019s due for launch in 2020. For [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4704,4705,367],"class_list":["post-18523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-2020-mars-rover","tag-helicopter","tag-mars"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18523"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18523\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}