NASA Is Working On A Mars "Flying Boomerang"

NASA is starting to ramp up their tech for the upcoming Mars missions.  In fact, they are testing what will be the first flying machine to soar through the air on Mars, and will be used for mapping and and exploring the Martian landscape.

Right now, NASA is calling the Martian flyer Prandtl-m, is is a light-weight titanium vehicle that is just around 24 inches in length, and just one pound in weight.  Tests of the flier will be taking place before the end of the year, and will be done in the upper atmosphere here on Earth.  The high altitude test will simulate the low gravity and low atmosphere environment of Mars.  They're planning on testing it at 100,000 feet for their first test, then float it up to 450,000 feet on a balloon, and run it's second test there.

"The aircraft would be part of the ballast that would be ejected from the aeroshell that takes the Mars rover to the planet," program manager Al Bowers said." It would be able to deploy and fly in the Martian atmosphere and glide down and land. 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."

 If all goes well, NASA is planning on sending the flier up with the next Mars rover mission.  There goal is to launch it, have it fly around 20 miles or so, and then land.  The data that they gain may help them nail down a possible site for their planned manned mission to the Red Planet...but more on that tomorrow!