Students made a glider for the Martian atmosphere

Computer graphics. This is what Prandtl-M might look like on a Martian surface. Render: NASA Illustration / Dennis Calaba

At the airport Flight Research Center. Armstrong NASA group of students from California College Irvine Valley College successfully tested a prototype glider that someday in the future can run on Mars. The glider called Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Land on Mars (abbreviated as Prandtl-M) is specially designed for flying in the rarefied atmosphere of the Red Planet.


From left to right: Derek Abramson, Justin Hall and Alexander Frock attach the Prandtl-M glider to the Carbon Cub aircraft to drop it from a height of 150 meters. Photo: NASA Photo / Kyria Luxon

The atmosphere of Mars is significantly different from the Earth. It is much more sparse. The surface pressure is only 0.7 kPa at the peak of the gigantic mountain of Olympus to 1.155 kPa at the depth of the Hellas plain, which is 9 km below the surrounding elevation and 7 km below the average Marsian level. This pressure is approximately 1/110 of the earth's atmospheric pressure at the surface, or is equal to that of the earth at an altitude above 30 km. Martian gravity is 38% of Earth's, which slightly simplifies the task of designing the apparatus.
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Due to the rarefaction of the Martian atmosphere, the glider should be very light. Therefore, the body is made of carbon fiber. This material consists of the thinnest threads with a diameter of 5 to 15 microns and is characterized by high strength and lightness.

The prototype Prandtl-M with remote control was made by students independently. NASA engineers did not specifically suggest that they make mistakes themselves and correct them - only so the guys will get the necessary experience and knowledge.

At the next stage, students will try to make a completely autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle, which will be a rather difficult task, given the weight restrictions.

In the future, such aircraft in the atmosphere of Mars may collect scientific data that will be sent to earth for analysis. The atmosphere of Mars is not yet fully understood, as is the Martian climate. For example, studies conducted in 2013 revealed that there is much more water vapor in the Martian atmosphere than previously thought, and even more than in the upper layers of the Earth’s atmosphere. Water vapor is concentrated in ice-water clouds at an altitude of 10 to 30 km. True, the student glider Prandtl-M can not get to such a great height, it will fly very close to the surface. However, the data collected by him can be very useful.


Emerson Baker and Caitlyn Kennedy conduct the final Prandtl-M test before the test flight. Photo: NASA / Lauren Hughes

A group of students is working on a project within the NASA Flight Scholars and Education Unmanned Aerial Systems student programs, which are specifically designed to enable students and students to participate in real science projects and NASA space missions.

Students tried different forms of glider wings and repeatedly dropped it from the roof before adding servomotors to the glider to control the ailerons. In the end, the guys were allowed to test at the Flight Research Center. Armstrong NASA.

In the following tests, Prandtl-M will be dropped from a height of 30 km , where the density of the atmosphere is about the same as that of the surface of Mars. In principle, if the project proves its viability, such unmanned aerial vehicles can be launched in the upper layers of the earth’s atmosphere.

The developers suggest that the glider will last in the atmosphere of Mars for about 10 minutes. Such devices can add to the payload of a transport ship that they plan to send to Mars in the years 2022-2024.