Photo: PTIDallas: Nasa is working toward a future when humans will walk on the surface of Mars. The Mars Helicopter, a small, self-flying aircraft designed specifically for the Red Planet, will be included in the space agency’s next rover mission in 2020 to beam back a birds-eye view of Martian terrain. Nasa’s Mars Helicopter, a small, autonomous rotorcraft, will travel with the agency’s Mars 2020 rover, currently scheduled to launch in July 2020, to demonstrate the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet. Photo: Courtesy NASA/JPL-CaltechEven if the aerial project flops on arrival, it won’t hurt the main Mars 2020 rover mission, which is scheduled for launch in the summer of that year to land in February 2021. The Nasa aircraft will be controlled through commands relayed from the rover, and will be powered by solar-charged batteries.

Source: Mint May 12, 2018 10:18 UTC