The ARES Team is actively working toward being selected as the NASA’s next Mars Scout Mission, enabling it to fly its high-value science payload on the first aircraft to soar over another planet. If selected, ARES will travel to Mars compactly folded into a protective aeroshell. Through a sequence of events, the stowed aircraft will emerge from its aeroshell and begin flying over Mars. From its unique vantage point 1.5 km above the surface of Mars, ARES will target and explore up to 800 km of diverse terrain in the Southern Highlands. Science data will be returned to Earth on the day of flight for immediate scientific review and public dissemination.
ARES’ airplane has been developed to autonomously complete a pre-planned science survey. It accommodates Mars environment uncertainty through its robust stability and control performance. The ARES mission implementation strategy includes flight-proven systems, large margins, and a successful, ongoing airplane deployment assurance program to achieve both mission flexibility and low risk.
Dr. Craig Hunter at NASA Langley Research Center provided important computational support during the early design phase of the project. Three different configurations were analyzed from over 120 Navier-Stokes CFD solutions on over 30 tetrahedral grids. Quick response and rapid turnaround was critical to meeting scheduled milestones
More information on the Mars Scout / ARES can be found at the Mars Airplane webpage.
