After losing the Mars helicopter, NASA is working on a new aircraft designed to fly around Mars.
This mission will be challenging as the atmosphere of the Red Planet is extremely thin.
The space agency, under the Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, lost the Mars helicopter, stating that the aircraft performed well, capturing impressive images of Mars, but became unusable after a crash during landing.
Instead of replacing it with another helicopter, NASA decided to create something larger and more advanced – an aircraft.
NASA has already given a name to this new aircraft – they call it ‘MAGGIE.’
As is customary for the space agency, this aircraft also has a special acronym, and MAGGIE is an example of this abbreviation.
There are several reasons why this aircraft is special, with the most prominent being its design for flying around Mars.
Unlike a helicopter or eVTOL designed for vertical takeoff, this jet is designed for a different purpose.
Although the program has a name, the aircraft does not yet have a “face.”
NASA is working on the design but is also utilizing external resources.
Various third parties, including the Computational Fluid Dynamics and Aerodynamics Laboratory at the University of Miami, are working on different designs on behalf of NASA.
The design needs to be 100% scientifically sound for obvious reasons, as a visually appealing aircraft concept won’t be sufficient.
Replacing the Ingenuity Helicopter won’t be easy.
The small, solar-powered experimental helicopter completed over 70 successful flights before crashing onto the Mars surface on January 25, even managing to capture some photos of debris on Mars before its “death.”
The engineers behind the vehicle were hoping it could fly five or six more times.
