MICHAEL PHELAN / LONDON
Vehicle to be built by Aurora as part of agency's plans to survey planet's environment
Aurora Flight Sciences is to build a full-scale prototype of its proposed Mars aircraft, as part of NASA's Mars Scout Aerial Regional-Scale Environmental Survey (ARES) project.
Last year, Manassas, Virginia-based Aurora and NASA Langley Research Center both demonstrated a half-scale version of the aircraft, dubbed the MarsFlyer, in a series of low-altitude and high-altitude drop tests.
In September, the MarsFlyer was air-launched from a balloon at an altitude of 101,000ft (30,800m) off the coast of Oregon. Having been carried aloft with its wings and tail folded underneath, simulating its storage position during the trip to Mars, the aircraft separated, unfolded and completed a 90min pre-programmed flight.
Analysis of data from the MarsFlyer fight test programme has indicated that performance matched predictions, says Aurora MarsFlyer project manager Jean-Charles Ledé, who adds that the high-altitude testing "could not have gone better".
The full-scale aircraft, which will demonstrate flight-weight components and actual aerodynamics, is due to fly later this year with a deployment test in the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere. The ARES would allow scientists to study Mars' atmosphere, surface and underground features over a wide area.
Langley atmospheric scientist Joel Levine says: "Atmospheric measurements available from this aircraft will help us understand the chemical and evolutionary relationships between water in the Mars atmosphere, at the surface and within the crust."
The ARES team includes NASA's Langley Research Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Draper Laboratory, and Lockheed Martin Astronautics, as well as Aurora. It is one of four selected for Phase A Mars Scout studies.
The first Mars Scout mission is planned for launch in 2007, for arrival in 2008.
Source: Flight International
