NASA的“机智号”火星直升机取得了巨大成功，以至于该机构计划建造更大、更先进的直升机。在超过70次飞行后，这架名为“机智号”的直升机——第一架在另一个星球上进行动力、受控飞行的飞行器——于2024年1月在火星沙丘中坠毁。但它意想不到的成就(工程师们原本希望它能进行五次飞行)促使了该机构对其所谓的“火星直升机”的概念设计和规划。NASA表示，除了侦察之外，这种直升机还可以携带科学仪器来研究探测车无法到达的地形。

🚁“机智号”直升机是首个在另一颗星球进行动力控制飞行的飞行器，其成功促使NASA计划建造更大、更先进的火星直升机，以探索火星。

⚙️新直升机将采用六个主旋翼设计，相比“机智号”的两个旋翼，这将提高升力效率并增加飞行距离，使其能够携带科学仪器并探索探测车无法到达的区域。

🌪️火星稀薄的大气层给飞行带来了挑战，其体积约为地球大气层的百分之一，“机智号”通过每分钟2400转的四英尺旋翼叶片成功克服了这一挑战。

📈“机智号”提供了在火星飞行的信心和数据，其飞行数据为未来火星飞行器的设计提供了宝贵参考。

🛩️除了直升机，NASA还在研究一种可以垂直起降的火星飞机，这两种飞行器都将极大地推动火星探索，帮助人类探索这个曾经充满水、可能存在地下湖泊并在洞穴中隐藏秘密的星球。

NASA's Mars helicopter proved so successful, the space agency plans to build a larger, more advanced chopper.

After over 70 flights, the Ingenuity helicopter — the first craft to ever make a powered, controlled flight on another planet— crashed in the Martian dunes in January 2024. But its unexpected achievement (engineers hoped it might make five flights) has prompted the conceptual design and planning for what the agency calls its "Mars Chopper."

"In addition to scouting, such a helicopter could carry science instruments to study terrain rovers can’t reach," NASA said.

The short video below shows a helicopter with six main rotors, compared with Ingenuity's two. Such a design could allow the craft to have more lift efficiency, and travel greater distances.

Flying on Mars is daunting. The Martian atmosphere is quite thin, with a volume about one percent of Earth's. This makes it difficult to generate the lift needed for flight. To take to the air, Ingenuity spun its four-foot rotor blades at a blazing 2,400 revolutions every minute. But the relatively light design not only succeeded — it's been hugely informative

"Ingenuity has given us the confidence and data to envision the future of flight at Mars," Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity’s project manager, said in a NASA statement.

"Ingenuity has given us the confidence and data to envision the future of flight at Mars."

The futuristic chopper's design is still in its infancy, and some things will almost certainly evolve. But the current concept is 20 pounds heavier than Ingenuity and would be able to travel some two miles a day, NASA explained. For reference, Ingenuity's longest flight was 2,310 feet (704 meters).

For its future exploration of the Red Planet, the space agency is also investigating a Mars plane, which would be capable of taking off and landing vertically, like a helicopter. Both choppers and aircraft would be a great boon for Martian exploration, a world that once teemed with water, may harbor great subterranean lakes today, and could hide secrets in caves.

On an extraterrestrial world with no runways, these craft may become invaluable pioneers.