The possibility of deploying sailplanes aka gliders on Mars, which would use atmospheric dynamics to keep the unpowered aircraft aloft.
"...will use several different flight methods, including simple static soaring when sufficient vertical winds are present. But they can also use a technique called dynamic soaring, which, like an albatross on a long journey, takes advantage of how horizontal wind speed often increases with altitude – a phenomenon particularly common on Mars."
https://news.arizona.edu/story/engineer ... xploration
Sailplane for Mars exploration
- rhyneheimer
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Sailplane for Mars exploration
Steve Ryan -
HEFA/MAAC pilot, slope soaring fanatic, electric enthusiast -
I am not a drone
HEFA/MAAC pilot, slope soaring fanatic, electric enthusiast -
I am not a drone
-
- Posts: 44
- Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2022 12:58 pm
- Location: Lawrencetown, NS
Re: Sailplane for Mars exploration
That's very interesting for sure. Probably all of our rc glider pilot family members already knew this!
- rhyneheimer
- Posts: 395
- Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2009 12:22 pm
- Location: Halifax, NS
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Re: Sailplane for Mars exploration
Well, it's news to me, and I follow such things on and off this Earth. The solar powered helicopter, Ingenuity, has performed fantastically on Mars, but an indefinite unpowered glider flight on Mars seems quite ambitious! Looking fwd to the high altitude Earth testing.
Steve Ryan -
HEFA/MAAC pilot, slope soaring fanatic, electric enthusiast -
I am not a drone
HEFA/MAAC pilot, slope soaring fanatic, electric enthusiast -
I am not a drone