High Endurance Aircraft - Space-related Measurements
High Endurance Aircraft, like the Helios, can be used to take long-term
measurements at extraordinarily high altitudes. NASA is interested in
extending the use of these high-endurance aircraft to 120,000 ft to take
measurements. The similarity in atmospheric density at this altitude
to the Mars atmosphere
makes it a possible testing ground for demonstrating the feasibility
and understanding
the dynamics of a Mars aircraft. Currently, measurements in this area
are taken using a sounding rocket that may collect between 5 and 15 minutes
of good data.
A high-endurance aircraft would be able to record a much longer period
of time and monitor trends. Some of the related topics are navigational
systems, low
Reynolds Number dynamics, low Reynolds Number propulsion, absence of
Global Positioning System, nuclear propulsion, battery propulsion, and
combustion-powered vehicles.
Related Resources
Keywords
Aircraft design; Aircraft performance; Aircraft systems; Atmosphere; Autonomous
air navigation; Environmental modeling; ERAST; Fuel reduction; Helios; Propulsion;
Unmanned aerial vehicle
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