Should NASA Send An ‘Albatross’ To Mars? How A New Bird-Like Sailplane Could Reveal The Red Planet’s Secrets

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How A New Bird-Like Sailplane Could Reveal The Red Planet’s Secrets

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Is It Time For NASA To Send An "Albatross" To Mars? The NASA Ingenuity Mars Helicopter drone has been a total success on Mars.

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It was fastened to the Perseverance rover and launched to Mars in 2020; it has already completed 27 brief reconnaissance flights.

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Ingenuity, especially on rugged terrain, can go places no rover can, but it has its limits

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Due to its small size and little battery, it can only fly for three minutes at a time and has a maximum height of 39 feet (12 metres).

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Engineers have therefore developed an albatross-style glider that is even better for upcoming missions to Mars and can travel far higher for longer.

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With the exception of Ingenuity's test flights, there are no other eyes on the layer between Mars' orbiters and rovers on the surface.

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It implies that planetary scientists are lacking information on both the temperature and geological characteristics of Mars, such as canyons and volcanoes.

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The first several kilometres above the surface are where everything takes place.

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According to Alexandre Kling, a research scientist at NASA's Mars Climate Modeling Center, "this is where all the exchanges between the surface and atmosphere happen

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where the dust is picked up and sent into the atmosphere, where trace gases are mixed, and where the modulation of large-scale winds by mountain-valley flows happen

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