Larger, More Capable, Longer Flight Range

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) began design work on the next-gen Mars helicopter to replace its stalwart first vehicle, Ingenuity, which was planned for only five flights as a tech demonstrator but ended up completing 72 missions before a nav glitch led to a hard landing that damaged its rotors.

JPL’s Teddy Tzanetos recently made a presentation at a meeting of the U.S. Geophysical Union about the initial concept and design work on the next-gen helicopter. For now, JPL is calling it the Mars Chopper, presumably until its official name is decided. It will be larger than Ingenuity, at about the size of an SUV and closer to the size of the Perseverance rover.

Mars Chopper will also be more capable, with the ability to carry up to 11 pounds of instrumentation. That is not nearly what Perseverance can transport but the Chopper would be able to cover much more territory on Mars. The design team estimates it could travel up to 3 km every day, and could be a way to get science instruments into areas that are inaccessible to Perseverance.

Ingenuity was tethered to Perseverance and dependent on the rover for communications, but the Chopper will be capable of independent exploration and communications.

FMI:  www.jpl.nasa.gov/