Inserting an aircraft into the Martian atmosphere

[willpittenger]

<p>Ideally, it would land at night and take off again during the day.&nbsp; Either that, or it has to be able to fly all night - or during dust storms.&nbsp; As such, it might be best to include it as part of a lander.&nbsp; However, other scenarios I have require the plane coming directly out during descent.</p><p>When Pathfinder flew, I was hoping that future rovers (like the MERs) could have an aircraft companion several as a near realtime eye-in-the-sky.&nbsp; Orbiters, even MRO, need time.&nbsp; An aircraft could allow planners to evaluate a route from more directions than a rover could alone in the same amount of time and do so before the orbiter was even in the area.&nbsp; Given the same camera, an aircraft would probably also provide more resolution than an orbiter could.&nbsp; That might allow scientests to determine enough they could skip sending the rover in.</p><p>Even Pathfinder might have been able to accomodate a tiny plane (although with more weight).&nbsp; I figure its mast might have been able to double as a catapult platform.&nbsp; The aircraft might not be able to fly at night.&nbsp; So I thought of pushing Sojourner's ramps away from the lander (to get them off the petal and provide room for the wings).&nbsp; That would then provide a simple runway, if short, for the plane.&nbsp; The concept was pushing it, but it was an interesting concept. </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>