NASA reveals plans for first airplane on Mars

The first airplane on Mars will be pretty far from this fantasy. Chances are, it will look a lot more like a kind of glider that’s already in use on Earth, according to a NASA photo released Monday. The proposed Prandtl-m aircraft is a relatively dainty flying-wing-style plane. The prototype will be based on the existing Prandtl-d, a radio-controlled glider designed and built by aerospace engineering students during a NASA internship in 2012 and 2013.

The Prandtl-m could overfly some of the proposed landing sites for a future astronaut mission and send back to Earth very detailed high-resolution photographic map images that could tell scientists about the suitability of those landing sites.

Said NASA scientist and Prandtl-m program manager Al Bowers.

A Prandtl-m prototype is scheduled to launch from a high-altitude balloon later in 2015. Sending it out into the sky at around 100,000 feet (30,480 meters) up will approximate the conditions found in Mars’ atmosphere. The ultimate goal is to modify the design to include foldable wings that allow it to fit into a compact CubeSat, a type of mini satellite. A CubeSat with a Prandtl-m could hitch a ride along with a Mars rover, deploy into the atmosphere and glide to safety, taking high-res photos as it flies. The development team hopes it could hitch a ride to the Red Planet sometime around 2022 to 2024.

If the Prandtl-m completes a 450,000-foot drop, then I think the project stands a very good chance of being able to go to NASA headquarters and say we would like permission to ride to Mars with one of the rovers.

NASA scientist and Prandtl-m program manager Al Bowers

Technology