Mars?

[Melvoid]

I just saw some pictures from Mars. One included a drone. I was thinking about it and about the thinner atmosphere.

• In a thinner atmosphere, would our drones have trouble flying?
• Does the Mars drone need higher RPM?
• It looked like the blades were wider/more surface area.
• Must be all programmed flights, 'cuz I don't think FPV would work too well with the time it would take for the signal to get there from a pilot on Earth.

Thoughts?

 

[StantonZ]

Ingenuity (the official name of the Mars "helicopter") was a huge success in many ways, and every "mission" had to be pre-programmed to run autonomously. Not to mention you can't just "swap out" batteries on the surface of Mars! The mission is officially over, but you can read all about it on the NASA website.

 

[AMann]

I just saw some pictures from Mars. One included a drone. I was thinking about it and about the thinner atmosphere.

• In a thinner atmosphere, would our drones have trouble flying?
• Does the Mars drone need higher RPM?
• It looked like the blades were wider/more surface area.
• Must be all programmed flights, 'cuz I don't think FPV would work too well with the time it would take for the signal to get there from a pilot on Earth.

Thoughts?

The ingenuity drone is quite large and does run at a very high RPM. I saw its twin being flown at JPL and it was quite impressive- loud also. I do not believe Earth drones would be able to fly on Mars, they are too heavy for the amount of lift they could generate on Mars- just look at what our drone flight ceiling levels are for various models, at those elevations the atmosphere is still breathable and much more dense compared to Mars, even at its ground level. Mars’ atmosphere is less than 1% as dense as Earth’s.