Could You Fly an Normal Drone on Mars?

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In case you haven’t noticed, the NASA Perseverance rover landed on Mars. Yeah, it’s kind of a big deal. But there’s something special about this rover — it brings with it a flying autonomous vehicle. Yes, it’s got a drone…on Mars. It even has a name. It’s called Ingenuity.

OK, so there was a bunch of research and development that went into designing and building a drone (you can call it a helicopter if that makes you happy) that can not only survive a rocket launch. It can also survive the cold environment on Mars — OH, and it can even fly on Mars.

So, what’s so special about flying on Mars? There are two big differences compared to an Earth-based flight:

• Gravitational field. The gravitational field on Mars is lower than on Earth. Earth has a surface field strength (g) of 9.8 Newtons/kilogram, but on Mars it’s 3.7 N/kg. With a lower gravitational field, you don’t need as much upward thrust to fly. That’s a good thing.
• Density of the atmosphere. The density of air on Earth is 1.2 kilograms/meter³, on Mars it’s 0.02 kg/m³. A rotary aircraft (quad-copter or helicopter) flies by pushing air down. With a lower density of air, you don’t get as much thrust. This is a bad thing.

But don’t worry, I have a model for the power requirements to fly something with a rotor. Here is my very…