Motivations and Preliminary Design for Mid-Air Deployment of a Science\n Rotorcraft on Mars

Le résumé fourni par la source

Mid-Air Deployment (MAD) of a rotorcraft during Entry, Descent and Landing\n(EDL) on Mars eliminates the need to carry a propulsion or airbag landing\nsystem. This reduces the total mass inside the aeroshell by more than 100 kg\nand simplifies the aeroshell architecture. MAD's lighter and simpler design is\nlikely to bring the risk and cost associated with the mission down. Moreover,\nthe lighter entry mass enables landing in the Martian highlands, at elevations\ninaccessible to current EDL technologies. This paper proposes a novel MAD\nconcept for a Mars helicopter. We suggest a minimum science payload package to\nperform relevant science in the highlands. A variant of the Ingenuity\nhelicopter is proposed to provide increased deceleration during MAD, and enough\nlift to fly the science payload in the highlands. We show in simulation that\nthe lighter aeroshell results in a lower terminal velocity (30 m/s) at the end\nof the parachute phase of the EDL, and at higher altitudes than other\napproaches. After discussing the aerodynamics, controls, guidance, and\nmechanical challenges associated with deploying at such speed, we propose a\nbackshell architecture that addresses them to release the helicopter in the\nsafest conditions. Finally, we implemented the helicopter model and aerodynamic\ndescent perturbations in the JPL Dynamics and Real-Time Simulation\n(DARTS)framework. Preliminary performance evaluation indicates landing and\nhelicopter operation scan be achieved up to 5 km MOLA (Mars Orbiter Laser\nAltimeter reference).\n

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