Mars helicopter

[helibeli]

Anybody looking forward to what the Mars helicopter will show.It blasted off today.I never realised how big the rotors are-4 feet diameter coaxial rotors 300metre range, 5 metre flying height and 90 second flight time from lithium ion batteries which will then recharge from solar cells.I wonder if it will experience brown outs with all the martian dust?Can't wait to see the movies.

[AtTheCross]

I really wish it had longer range, it's NASA for crying out loud! LOL but regardless it's gonna be kewl

[GREYEAGLE]

It will just piss off a bunch of Martin's : Easier to just harpoon it with another probe - or place more RC Car's on it to drive around and look at stuff.

Wait till they shoot at it !

[AtTheCross]

it least they're not being hypocritical and keeping it below 400 feet

[Johnny31297]

In case anyone hasn't seen this yet:

First Flight on Another Planet! (16 min 1 sec)

[GREYEAGLE]

Ming will never figure it out - and their already jumpy running around !

Wait till they hear the communications from the High pants radio guy !

E.T. call Home !

Sunday them other guys are gona come home - wait till they say my butt is getting HOT !
Who's idea wuz this???? -they done this one before ! We are gona do what ???

[JimJW]

Originally Posted by AtTheCross

I really wish it had longer range, it's NASA for crying out loud! LOL but regardless it's gonna be kewl

There’s almost no air on Mars, this thing is flying at an equivalent altitude of 115,000 feet. Now gravity is also about 1/3rd of earth, so that helps some.... It’s an amazingly accomplishment

[BaconRaygun]

Originally Posted by JimJW

There’s almost no air on Mars, this thing is flying at an equivalent altitude of 115,000 feet. Now gravity is also about 1/3rd of earth, so that helps some.... It’s an amazingly accomplishment

It's also got to operate reliably on another planet with nobody there to service the thing, and it needs to do it autonomously, and be light and compact enough to travel there on a small spacecraft. They had to balance dozens of factors while building it, flight time being only one of them. It is an amazing accomplishment for sure!

[AllanNg]

Anyone knows if it uses vbar or ikon?

[GregCA]

Originally Posted by AllanNg

Anyone knows if it uses vbar or ikon?

VBar 6.4 with the new Anti Gravity feature.

[AllanNg]

Originally Posted by GregCA

VBar 6.4 with the new Anti Gravity feature.

Im buying that tonight. Forget rescue.

[dogbreath]

Look for their FAA numbers on it. If not........

It's obviously not LOS, so they need a commercial license.

Dan

[GREYEAGLE]

Originally Posted by JimJW

There’s almost no air on Mars, this thing is flying at an equivalent altitude of 115,000 feet. Now gravity is also about 1/3rd of earth, so that helps some.... It’s an amazingly accomplishment

Gona sample the air - get a balloon full, then we will know what Mars smells like.

Let Ming smell it 1st - he will go crazy - it's kinda like the smell of outer space.

It's a good deal !

[helibeli]

They are also repatriating a piece of Martian asteroid that arrived on Earth.

[Cyclone7]

Originally Posted by JimJW

There’s almost no air on Mars, this thing is flying at an equivalent altitude of 115,000 feet. Now gravity is also about 1/3rd of earth, so that helps some.... It’s an amazingly accomplishment

and yet we still can't control a pandemic

[Xrayted]

Originally Posted by Cyclone7

and yet we still can't control a pandemic

Yep, the irony is overwhelming sometimes. Like having 22 million to pay one guy to throw a ball, but somehow not enough money for things like cancer or other medical research. Priorities

[Cyclone7]

Actually, we do know how to control a pandemic ... it is more a case of some people just not wanting to practise that control

[GREYEAGLE]

Originally Posted by Xrayted

Yep, the irony is overwhelming sometimes. Like having 22 million to pay one guy to throw a ball, but somehow not enough money for things like cancer or other medical research. Priorities

Toss a ball ? Cinch!

Let's take a Tesla Space Car and squirt it around the SUN !

Put a Lil Mann in it that waves at Em !

We do that because we can ! Now we make pills to deal with issues made by pills ! -

Get the RASH pill !!!! Ming is still trying to figure out the car gig !

RASH Commercial all nite long - Sounds Song Worthy ! - We Be Flying Twirly Birds on Mars !!! gOOD gIG !

[Atomic Skull]

Originally Posted by Xrayted

Yep, the irony is overwhelming sometimes. Like having 22 million to pay one guy to throw a ball, but somehow not enough money for things like cancer or other medical research. Priorities

Capitalism, the guy that makes 22 million to throw a ball is one of only a small handful of people on earth that can do it that well, trained his whole life to be able to do that and will only be able to do it for a couple years before age and wear and tear on his body from being a professional athlete degrades his ability. It's worth it because of how much money the sports team will make off him (which is way way more than the 22 million salary they are paying him) and how sought after that skill is by sports teams.

[Atomic Skull]

Pic of the mars helicopter rotor system:



Having two sets of cyclic servos and a non rotating mast with the stators fixed to it is much less complex than a traditional single motor CP coaxial with it's rat's nest of control linkages.

Compare the above to: