Date of Award

Fall 2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Program/Concentration

Aerospace Engineering

Committee Director

Robert L. Ash

Committee Member

Colin P. Britcher

Committee Member

Drew Landman

Call Number for Print

Special Collections; LD4331.E56 S4683 2014

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicle capabilities are required for expanded exploration of the Martian surface. These vehicles can not only gather data at an altitude otherwise unreachable by rovers and satellites, but also deliver small payloads and retrieve samples from distant off-site locations. Previous multi-purpose reusable Mars aircraft studies have been unable to achieve the flight ranges required for expanded exploration. This study has focused on increasing the range of prototype aircraft designs. Assuming that large precision cargo delivery capabilities have been developed and much of the infrastructure associated with a fixed Mars base is in place, the challenge of linking dispersed assets separated by distances on the order of 1,000 km still remains.

The proposed aerial vehicle design utilizes in-situ propellants for sustained operations. With the aid of external systems for enabling takeoff and landing, substantial quantities of propellant can be diverted from those flight elements and utilized to extend the cruise range. The systems described in this thesis utilize short takeoff and landing approaches that were inspired by similar applications developed and evolved for United States aircraft carriers.

This study defined the basic hardware elements that can be developed in order to increase the range of Mars aircraft through the reduction of aircraft mass and the minimizing of fuel consumption when not at cruise altitude. The predicted range from the baseline vehicle was increased from approximately 120 km to nearly 200 km at a nominal cruise altitude of 2000 m.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/rng5-6h67

Download

Share

COinS