NASA is about to fly the first helicopter on Mars, and it turns out that its rotors could glow in the dark as they react with Martian dust.
狈础厂础鈥檚 Perseverance rover is set to touch down in Jezero Crater on Mars on 18 February 2021 to search for past life on Mars, but it will also deploy a 0.5-metre-high drone called Ingenuity. Starting in March, it will conduct the first of up to five flights in a 30-day window. Each will increase in duration, up to a maximum of about 90 seconds, and the helicopter is equipped with a camera for taking images from the air.
Although Ingenuity is only a technical demonstration, William Farrell at 狈础厂础鈥檚 Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and his colleagues say the flights also afford a unique scientific opportunity.
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The low atmospheric pressure on Mars, coupled with its dusty environment and carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere, could produce a type of electric charge known as the triboelectric effect on the blades. This could be strong enough to break down atmospheric molecules, says the team.
The team modelled this breakdown in the lab and found that it is unlikely to damage Ingenuity, but could be visible at take-off and landing in low light, producing a soft glow or 鈥渃orona鈥� on the blades. Something similar, known as the , can happen with helicopters on Earth.
鈥淲e suggest that operations occur once at twilight so that any corona-like glow [can] be observed by Perseverance in the low light environment,鈥� the team writes, noting that there is a unique scientific opportunity 鈥渢o examine the conditions for Mars atmospheric breakdown鈥�.
Perseverance will use its cameras to record Ingenuity鈥檚 flights, so might be able to see this effect. Joshua Ravich at 狈础厂础鈥檚 Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, the helicopter鈥檚 mechanical engineering lead, says that while the team is aware of the possibility, it hasn鈥檛 yet decided whether to attempt a flight at twilight to investigate it.
鈥淲e think that would be pretty interesting to see,鈥� he says. 鈥淯nfortunately, we鈥檙e mostly planning to fly mid-morning because of better wind conditions and thermal conditions, so we might not fly in low light conditions.鈥�
While technically possible, other flight targets 鈥� such as flying in higher winds 鈥� might take precedence. Even if a twilight flight were attempted, Perseverance鈥檚 cameras might not be sensitive enough to see the effect. 鈥淏ut it would be pretty cool,鈥� says Ravich.
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