Exploring the Space through the Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (UAV)

Drones are often used in aviation and space. It refers to an aircraft or vehicle without a pilot. It is also called “unmanned aircraft vehicle”. On Earth, it is often used for military purposes to avoid risking the lives of pilots in combat zones. It is also efficient for them because UAV’s don’t require to rest. Unlike other aircraft vehicles, drones can fly as long as it has fuel and there are no mechanical errors in it. UAV’s are a big help for us in investigating hard to reach areas on our planet, what more if it will also explore the outer space right?

Because of the impeccable uses of UAV’s, brilliant engineers from NASA in Langley research center thought of creating and developing an extraordinary concept of a UAV. This UAV will be used to explore Mars. As of now, the Curiosity rover is already exploring the red planet and bought us a lot of exciting discoveries. It is already a huge accomplishment for the scientists especially since the rover is still stuck on the ground.

For now, another goal of the NASA’s engineers is to create a drone that will accompany the next rover that will be sent to Mars in 2020. It is to expand more the view and landscape of Mars. However, they are faced with the challenge of building a drone that can fly in conditions that is also quite different from what we have on Earth. Flying should be easier on Mars because it has 3/8 part of the gravity that we have on our planet. But the red planet has also 100 times less atmosphere, so there will be a big chance for the UAV to just have thin air to push against making it difficult to liftoff.

Though the size of the blades and the weight of the vehicle can determine if it could actually fly, it would take about eight to reach Mars to test different designs. It would also be an additional challenge for the drone to survive the harsh environment.

 This said project is called “Mars Electric Reusable Flyer”. It actually takes advantage of the technology that underpins the newest autonomous robots and self-driving aircraft vehicle. The Langley researchers are currently developing a visual odometry algorithms and Simultaneous Linearization and Mapping algorithms for the drone to navigate autonomously. Even though the batteries and motors today can take longer flight times and recharging, there would still be unknown factors that the researches won’t discover until the drone attempts to fly to Mars.

The low pressure chamber testing of a prototype was completed recently. But for now, the simulation testing will have to suffice. If the drone will work, the hardships will have been well worth the payoff. The UAV will be of big help because it could actually cover large regions of Mars which the scientists can study for further investigation of the planet’s geology. It will also be a big help for scouting missions for potential human outposts. It can even fly through lava tubes and across deep canyons to reveal unknown corners of the deep space.