According to Elena Karpovich, a junior researcher at the Moscow Aviation Institute, she said that work on the marsolet began in April 2022MOSCOW, February 28.
/tass/. A team of scientists from the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI), together with Indian specialists, is developing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a fixed wing to study the atmosphere and surface of Mars. Tests of the technology demonstrator should be completed by the end of 2024, Elena Karpovich, a junior researcher at the MAI, who deals with the general and aerodynamic design of UAVs within the framework of the project, told TASS.
"The Marsolet is being developed by an international team, which, in addition to us, MAI employees, includes specialists in computational hydroaerodynamics from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur," Karpovich said. According to her, the essence of the project is to develop the concept of an aircraft with a fixed wing, which could occupy its niche among the existing devices for exploring Mars.
Work on the marsolet began in April 2022 after the approval of an application for funding from the Russian Science Foundation. Karpovich expects that by the end of next year the team will be able to successfully test the technology demonstrator. "By the end of 2024, we, on the Russian side, must publish ten articles, build and successfully test a technology demonstrator," she said.
According to Karpovich, the main difficulties of the project lie in the peculiarities of the Martian climate and atmosphere - the UAV must cope with both the rarefied atmosphere and dust storms of the red planet.
"The properties of the Martian atmosphere complicate the design of effective bearing surfaces and limit us in choosing a power plant. Dust storms involve a thorough study of the protection of systems and equipment, as well as the flight profile for a device with a small load on the wing," she explained.
In addition, it is necessary to find a way to place the device in the head fairing of the launch vehicle. "For this reason, our UAV must either be very compact, or its design must be folding or "soft" (inflatable or self-reinforcing wing)," Karpovich said.
Cooperation with ICI RAS and NGO Lavochkin
The team actively consults with many enterprises and scientific collectives of the domestic rocket and space industry. Thus, the scientific mission of the device is being developed jointly with the Institute of Space Research (ICI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"At the moment, we are continuing to discuss with ICI specialists scientific tasks for UAVs and their corresponding instruments and flight profile, as well as areas of interest for research on Mars. The scientific mission may include climatic, mineralogical and thermophysical studies, as well as the study of the magnetic field of Mars," Karpovich explained.
In turn, the S. A. Lavochkin NGO advises the team on the specification of equipment and power plants that can be used in space. "This raises our work to a completely different scientific and engineering level," Karpovich said.
