The Mars Helicopter: First Extraterrestrial Vertical Flight

摘要

IN JULY OF NEXTYEAR, NASA WILL LAUNCH Mars 2020, a new mission to explore the red planet. Strapped under the belly of a rover that will be deployed upon landing in February 2021 will be a small-1.8 kilogram, 1.2 meter diameter-rotorcraft. In April 2021, if all goes to plan, that tiny aircraft, essentially handmade by a small team of engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, will make the first vertical flight on another planet. ROTOR spoke with Bob Balaram, JPLs chief engineer for the Mars Helicopter. (This interview has been edited and condensed for publication.)