Autonomous Drones A Critical Asset for Earth and Mars
Paolo GUARDABASSO DOME - Lead Engineer Mars Planet Delegate ISAE-SUPAERO University of Toulouse drone@domeproject.space European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
DOME | drone operations for Martian environment Research group born in September 2018
OBJECTIVE: study operations and procedures for the use of aerial drones on Mars
PROJECTS: ● ● ●
X5: VTOL plane for photogrammetry of martial soil VESTA: Multicopter for planetary outpost inspection and automation AEROSCAN: VTOL plane for the AMADEE20 mission
European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
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Aerial drones | Earth vs Mars Earth
Common
Mars
Agriculture
Search&Rescue
Surveillance
Mapping
Surface Analysis
Human Transport
Logistics
Weather forecast
Inspections
Search&Rescue
Search&Rescue
Sample collection
Mapping
Mapping
Logistics
Logistics
Inspections
Inspections European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
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Aerial drones | Mars environment data Surface gravity
3.711 m/s²
37.6% of Earth
Pressure
0.4 – 0.87 kPa
1% of Earth (sea level)
Temperature
-143 / 3 °C
-89 – 70 °C
Aerodynamics
Design
Deployment
European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
Propulsion
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Aerial drones | previous studies MATADOR Mars Advanced Technology Airplane for Deployment, Operations, and Recovery
AME Airplane for Mars Exploration
1998 1996
MAGE
PRANDTL-M Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Land on Mars
2006 2005
Mars Aircraft for Geophysical Exploration
Sky-sailor
2020 2015
solar powered micro airplane
MHS Mars Helicopter Scout
ARES Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey
European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
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Aerial drones | potential scenarios ●
Surface settlement inspection
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Observation tower
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Search & Rescue
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Surface scanning, mapping, photogrammetry
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Atmospheric analysis
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Rover exploration support
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Emergency comm relay
European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
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Aerial drones | testing locations ●
Desert Research and Technology Studies (D-RATS)
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Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS)
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Desert Mars Analog Ramon Station (D-MARS)
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Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS)
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Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition (AMASE)
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Hawai’i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS)
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...
European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
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The X5 vehicle | specifications ●
PAYLOADS: Camera
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SPEED: 30 km/h
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OP. ALTITUDE: 100 m
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WINGSPAN: 1800 mm
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LENGTH: 911 mm
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WEIGHT: 1700 gr (w/o payload)
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LAUNCH METHOD: autonomous VTOL, hand
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RECOVER METHOD: autonomous VTOL, gliding
European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
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The X5 vehicle | VTOL ●
VTOL = Vertical Take-Off and Landing
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The X5 can take off and land in vertical position
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The engines then rotate and the vehicle flies in horizontal flight configuration
Advantages ●
Take off and landing in limited spaces
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Manoeuvrability of multicopters with autonomy of a plane
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European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
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The X5 vehicle | solar powered ●
The power for the electric propulsion is provided by two double-junction, flexible solar arrays, mounted on the wings
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This increases the autonomy of the vehicle, potentially allowing up to dawn-to-dusk flights.
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A battery pack acts as backup for power-demanding maneuvers and when solar arrays are shaded.
European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
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The X5 vehicle | prototype X5.1 manufacturing ●
The first flying prototype was built by Neutech (Italy) in April 2019
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Flying only using battery power
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Several flight tests were performed in a controlled environment
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The vehicle’s parameters were tuned to allow a smooth piloting in stabilized mode
European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
First Field Campaign | X5.1 testing
European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
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Credit: NASA, HiRiSe camera, MRO
First Field Campaign | fixed-wing flight
30 cm / pixel
3 cm / pixel
European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
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First Field Campaign | VERSA
European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
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Future work | technology roadmap
Autonomy for BLOS flight
Navigation without GPS Flight control station
Real time object tracking Detecting of geological entities
European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
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Future work | AMADEE-20 Pre-selected for the AMADEE-20 Mission, led by the Austrian Space Forum, hosted by the Israel Space Agency and supported by D-MARS
Testing X5 in different scenarios: ●
Automatic soil photogrammetry mission (Primary)
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Automatic mission capabilities for long endurance habitat inspection (Primary)
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Search & Rescue of an EVA crew (Secondary)
European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
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THANK YOU
European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
Aerial drones | applications on Mars Potential applications ●
cascas
Studies in development ●
Mars Helicopter (Copter)
Past studies ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
ARES (Plane) AME (Plane) MATADOR (Plane) Sky-Sailor (Solar Plane) Kitty Hawk (Plane) Daedalus (Plane) ARMaDA (Plane) MAREA (Plane) Prandtl-M (Plane) NASA Mini-Sniffer (Plane)
● TheEuropean Mars Society MarsEuropean Conference Conference 2019 | IoP, | London 4th-6th | 4th-6th November November 2019
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The X5 vehicle | specifications ●
PAYLOADS: multispectral camera, ACAT sensors
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AUTONOMY: 11hr dawn-sunset
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SPEED: 75 km/h
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OP. ALTITUDE: 300 M
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WINGSPAN: 1812mm
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LENGTH: 911mm
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WEIGHT: 1400 gr (w/o payload)
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NON-GPS NAV: Inertial sensors, Radio Beacons
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LAUNCH METHOD: Hand launch, autonomous VTOL
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RECOVER METHOD: Autonomous VTOL, Deep Stall
TheEuropean Mars Society MarsEuropean Conference Conference 2019 | IoP, | London 4th-6th | 4th-6th November November 2019
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Aerial drones | applications and future potential ● ● ● ● ●
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Aerial Photogrammetry and Mapping Agriculture & Farming Entertainment, Racing, Sports Aerial Delivery & Shipping Photography and Filming (Science, Journalism, Movies) Military & Armed Forces Mining Medical, Emergency, Search and Rescue Operations Fire Fighting, Police & Law Enforcement Surveillance & Monitoring Telecommunication Coverage Expansion Weather Forecasting & Monitoring Wildlife Monitoring European Mars Conference 2019
Why we use them: ● ● ● ●
Can reach Critical and Hard to Reach places Expendable observers High range of sensors Can provide FPV from above
Future uses: ● ● ●
Human passenger transportation Space Exploration Logistics
| IoP, London | 4th-6th November
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The X5 vehicle | structure and components 3 Body 2x Wings Materials Carbon Fibre Carbon-foam-carbon sandwich panel EPP (Expanded Polypropylene)
European Mars Conference 2019 | IoP, London | 4th-6th November
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