Started in August 2013 as a technology development project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Mars Helicopter had to demonstrate that big things could come in small packages. The result of the team's four years of design, testing and redesign weighs just under four pounds (1.8 kilograms). Its fuselage is the size of a softball, and its twin blades that rotate in the opposite direction will bite in the thin Martian atmosphere at nearly 3,000 rpm, roughly 10 times the speed of a helicopter on Earth.

"Exploring the red planet with NASA's Mars Helicopter exemplifies a successful marriage of scientific and technological innovation and is a unique opportunity to advance in the exploration of Mars in the future," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Directorate of Scientific Mission of NASA at the headquarters of the agency in Washington. "After the Wright brothers demonstrated 117 years ago that controlled, sustained and controlled flight was possible here on Earth, another group of American pioneers can demonstrate that the same thing can be done in another world."

The Mars Helicopter is a technology demonstration that will travel to the red planet with the Mars 2020 rover. It will attempt a controlled flight in the thin atmosphere of Mars, which may allow more ambitious missions in the future.

Credits: NASA / JPL-Caltech

The helicopter also contains the integrated capabilities needed to operate on Mars, including solar cells to charge its lithium-ion batteries, and a heating mechanism to keep warm during cold Martian nights. But before the helicopter can fly to Mars, it has to get there. It will be attached to the tummy of the Mars 2020 rover.

"The altitude record for a helicopter flying here on Earth is about 40,000 feet." The atmosphere of Mars is only one percent of that of Earth, so when our helicopter is on the Martian surface, it is already in the Earth equivalent to 100,000 feet in height, "said Mimi Aung, manager of the Mars Helicopter project at JPL. "To make it fly at that low atmospheric density, we had to examine everything, make it as light as possible and at the same time be as strong and powerful as possible."

Once the rover is on the surface of the planet, you will find a suitable location to deploy the helicopter from the vehicle and place it on the ground. Then, the vehicle will move away from the helicopter at a safe distance from where it will transmit the commands. After their batteries are charged and a large number of tests are carried out, the controllers on Earth will order the Mars Helicopter to make its first autonomous flight into history.

"We do not have a pilot and the Earth will be several light-minutes away, so there is no way to control this mission in real time," Aung said. "Instead, we have an autonomous capability that can receive and interpret commands from the ground, and then fly the mission by itself."

The complete 30-day flight test campaign will include up to five flights of progressively farther flight distances, up to a few hundred meters, and longer durations of up to 90 seconds, over a period. On its first flight, the helicopter will make a short vertical climb to 10 feet (3 meters), where it will travel for about 30 seconds.

As a technology demonstration, the Mars Helicopter is considered a high risk and high reward project. If it does not work, the mission of Mars 2020 will not be affected. If it works, helicopters can have a real future as low-flying explorers and aerial vehicles to access places not accessible by land.

"The ability to see clearly what lies beyond the next hill is crucial for future explorers," said Zurbuchen. "We already have excellent views of Mars from both the surface and the orbit, with the additional dimension of a bird's eye view from a 'helicopter', we can only imagine what future missions will achieve."Mars 2020 will be launched on an Atlas V rocket from the United Launch Alliance (ULA) from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, and is expected to reach Mars in February 2021.

The rover will conduct geological assessments of its landing site on Mars, determine the habitability of the environment, look for signs of ancient Martian life and evaluate natural resources and hazards for future human explorers. The scientists will use instruments on the mobile phone to identify and collect samples of rock and earth, place them in sealed tubes and leave them on the surface of the planet for their possible return to Earth in a future mission to Mars.

The Mars 2020 Project at JPL in Pasadena, California, manages the development of the rover for the Scientific Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The NASA Launch Services Program, based at the Kennedy Space Center of the agency in Florida, is responsible for managing the launch.

The record altitude for a helicopter here on Earth is around 12,200 meters. The atmosphere of Mars is 1 percent of that of the Earth, therefore, when our helicopter is on the surface, it will already be at the equivalent of 30,480 meters, "Mimi Aung, project director, said in a statement. at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.