NASA is to spend $40 million over the next five years refining technologies for potential Mars flyer missions in the lead-up to possible selection of an autonomous unmanned air vehicle to undertake the 2011 Mars Scout Mission.
Mark Guynn, UAV sector systems analyst at NASA Langley Research Center, says the focus will be on refining concepts and technologies initially developed for the unsuccessful ARES Mars flyer proposal put forward for the 2007 Mars Scout mission.
Guynn says initial concepts for the 2011 mission are "ARES-like", with work until 2008 focusing on refining the air vehicle and mission systems developed for that proposal.
A follow-on activity, designated the Exploration Aerial Vehicle technology investment programme, will run from 2006 to 2010, "giving us the next generation of capability".
Guynn told the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Unmanned Unlimited conference in Chicago in September that the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate "is now supporting continued technology maturation over five years. The plan is to submit a proposal again for the 2011 mission."
He says priority areas of development up to 2008 include "continuing to characterise the aerodynamic performance, more extraction mechanism development, flight-control system development, air data systems, surface actuator work, qualifying the propulsion system, and developing tools and simulation capability".
Longer-term investment will explore fully autonomous flight-control systems adapted to the Martian atmosphere, improved flight system miniaturisation, potential multi-air vehicle exploration systems that could refuel or recharge on Mars, and examine improved propulsion options.
Source: Flight International
