Preliminary Structural Design and Aerodynamic Analysis of Mars Science Helicopter Rotors

摘要

NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory have proposed conceptual designs of a larger 20 kg Mars Science Helicopter (MSH) as a follow-on to the small 1.8 kg Mars Helicopter "Ingenuity". The preliminary structural design of the MSH rotor was carried out at the University of Maryland. The designs were developed for two configurations-a hexacopter and a coaxial-to meet the blade's natural frequency and weight requirements. Four designs, two for each configuration, were produced in this paper. Natural frequencies, mode shapes, and stresses at a rotational speed were calculated. It was observed that the lower frequency target of the hexacopter generally produced lower weight than the coaxial. Therefore, a more detailed analysis was carried out on one of the hexacopter designs.