[X] My Assistant

[karolp]

Hello again,

With the Martian airplane concept becoming sort of abandoned these days, I just wonder if a Martian CHOPPER was ever considered. With the capability of MRO I guess we do not need airborn instruments dedicated to imaging there. But: what about chemical measurements and "sniffing" for volatiles? Imagine something that could land at one spot found to be interesting on MRO photos and then take off and go sniffing for methane somewhere else? What do you think? Does it make any sense to you?

Regards,

Karol P.

Poland

[nprev]

...yep. Back in the day when I worked avionics on HH-60s (including flight controls) it really seemed like no two choppers flew alike. I must have changed a dozen trim actuators (and many, many more stability augmentation computers) for no other reason than that the beast "didn't feel right"...

Point being that I really can't imagine UM helos on Mars or anywhere else. Not to knock those who propose this idea, though; it's a neat concept, and their capabilities would be tremendous with respect to exploratory applications. The sad fact is that copters require a lot of TLC to fly at all, so their survivability as remote platforms is quite limited indeed.

[Bob Shaw]

...yep. Back in the day when I worked avionics on HH-60s (including flight controls) it really seemed like no two choppers flew alike. I must have changed a dozen trim actuators (and many, many more stability augmentation computers) for no other reason than that the beast "didn't feel right"...

Point being that I really can't imagine UM helos on Mars or anywhere else. Not to knock those who propose this idea, though; it's a neat concept, and their capabilities would be tremendous with respect to exploratory applications. The sad fact is that copters require a lot of TLC to fly at all, so their survivability as remote platforms is quite limited indeed.

Gyros, though, make a certain amount of sense, especially those which can jump-start into the air. They offer most of the advantages of a helicopter but are much simpler in execution. They are also seriously silly vehicles - I once saw a friend take off *across* a runway, just for fun!


Bob Shaw

[tty]

Gyros, though, make a certain amount of sense, especially those which can jump-start into the air. They offer most of the advantages of a helicopter but are much simpler in execution. They are also seriously silly vehicles - I once saw a friend take off *across* a runway, just for fun!
Bob Shaw

Gyroplanes have very limited altitude capability (the world record is only about 8,000 meters I think). I can't imagine one getting airborne on Mars, and certainly not across a runway!

tty