NASA testing prototype of autonomous helicopter drone to explore Mars

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory team at NASA is testing its own version of drone, a Martian helicopter attached to the Mars Rover. Though the NASA has chunk loads of information about The Red Planet, studying and understanding the surface of Mars has not been easy for the rover teams, mainly because of the problems posed by its extremely rugged surface and difficult terrain.

According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory team, it would be a lot easier to study the surface of the red planet if only they can use drones, which are capable of traveling three times faster than a rover without having to worry about falling off or bumping while traversing an uneven terrain.

The Martian helicopter proposed by NASA would fly ahead of a rover so it can find a good route for the rover and be capable of sending information to the rover teams on our own planet so that they can reroute their rover.

As of now, the team is working on testing a prototype of the version of the Mars Helicopter which, they believe, will have far better features than those possessed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and its HiRISE camera.

Though the idea of a chopper instead of rovers which keep tripping and bumping off makes a lot of sense, it is not going to be an easy task taking into account the fact that the atmosphere on Mars is much thinner than ours, and so is their gravity. Due to this reason, the Martian helicopter has to be designed in a manner that it can stand the harsh environmental condition of Mars while at the same time keeping it lightweight so it can fly.

NASA had earlier hoped that it will be able to send the first human on to the Martian surface in a few years from now. Apart from that, the ambitious SpaceX venture by Elon Musk plans to colonize the planet too!