NASAs Mars 2020 Mission To Be Launched In July 2020https://medium.com/deepaerodrones/nasas-mars-2020-mission-to-be-launched-in-july-2020-2e3846a3614c
NASA has a proud history and recently, it announced plans to fly an UAV on Mars to demonstrate the potential of heavier than air vehicle on the Red Planet.
Exploring the Red Planet with NASAs Mars Helicopter exemplifies a successful marriage of science and technology innovation and is a unique opportunity to advance Mars exploration for the future, states Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate administrator for NASAs Science Mission Directorate at the agencys headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The unmanned helicopter consists of the essential capabilities including solar cells to charge batteries and a heating mechanism to keep it warm through the cold nights. The altitude record for a helicopter flying here on Earth is about 40,000 feet. The atmosphere of Mars is only 1% of Earth, so when our helicopter is on the Martian surface, its already at the Earth equivalent of 100,000 feet up, says Mimi Aung, Mars Helicopter Project Manager at JPL.
If Mars 2020 mission gets successful, then this type of aircraft may have a real future.