Our geographic expedition of Mars so far has been restrain to rovers and artificial satellite . But NASA has a design to send an aerial vehicle there in the futurity , and it looks pretty awe-inspiring .
Called theMars Electric Reusable Flyer(MERF ) , the small vehicle about an limb duet across would utilise two moveable propellers to take off vertically , and then wing horizontally over the Earth’s surface .
The vehicle is entirely self-governing , which is a good thing moot communications with Mars are delay by tens of minutes owing to its majuscule aloofness away .
The flyer is a VTOL ( Vertical Take Off and Landing ) fomite
In the video recording below , the team behind it from NASA ’s Langley Research Center revealed some interesting aspects of the bill . To get to the surface , it could be transported by a scouter , which would also deploy it there . The flyer would have reusable bombardment , so once its power work low , it could land and be recharged by the rover .
Using an aerial vehicle would give us a whole new agency to explore Mars . Currently , we ’re limited to slow - moving rover , which must continue in comparatively placid areas with few obstacles . In the air , though , this fomite could cosy up to cliff , explore rocky outcropping , and more . It could even fly into caves and caverns on the open , surface area that we get laid very little about .
Mars has numerous cave and canyons
For future human mission , such a fomite could behave as a scout too . It could fly out front of explorers to represent out a path , or explore an area near a Martian basis while humankind controlled it remotely . NASA has already been screen the fomite , building a prototype on Earth and showcasing how it can switch between upright and horizontal escape .
There ’s small probability of it going on NASA ’s next rover , the 2020 Mars Rover , with a launching day of the month not too far away . But perhaps a rover in the future will be accompanied by this aerial vehicle . For rapid exploration of the surface of Mars , it would really be a game - modifier .
