ANTARIKSA — A series of tests are being carried out on NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft, an aerial drone the size of a nuclear-powered car that will search for traces of life on Saturn’s moon Titan. However, before the helicopter flies into space, NASA must ensure the dragonfly is able to survive the alien environment on the moon of a distant planet.
Dragonfly’s main goal is to study the complex chemistry on Titan that could provide insight into the origins of life in our solar system. Equipped with cameras, sensors and samplers, this vehicle will investigate areas of Titan that are known to contain organic material. Primarily, the area where this material is thought to have encountered liquid water beneath Titan’s icy surface in the past.
The lander will traverse Titan’s nitrogen-rich atmosphere using four twin coaxial rotors. To ensure these rotors can work in Titan-like conditions, the Dragonfly team has conducted various tests at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
There, NASA also operated drone rotors in a wind tunnel that simulated atmospheric conditions on Saturn’s largest moon. “All of these tests were incorporated into our Dragonfly Titan performance simulations and predictions,” said Ken Hibbard, Dragonfly mission systems engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in a NASA statement.
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Four Dragonfly test campaigns have been conducted: Two in a subsonic tunnel measuring 4.2 x 6.7 meters, and two in a Transonic Dynamic Tunnel (TDT) measuring approximately 5 meters. The subsonic tunnel was used to validate a fluid dynamics model developed by mission scientists. Meanwhile, testing the ability of heavy gas with variable density TDT to validate computer models in simulating the atmospheric conditions that Dragonfly is likely to encounter on Titan.
“The most recent test, held in June, involved a half-scale Dragonfly model with hundreds of test runs,” said Bernadine Juliano, APL’s test lead for the project.
Dragonfly team members review a half-scale model of the lander after undergoing wind tunnel testing at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Image: Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whi
Juliano said the testing involved conditions throughout the flight range at various wind speeds, rotor speeds and flight angles. This is to assess the Dragonfly’s aerodynamic performance.
“We completed more than 700 total runs (tests), covering more than 4,000 individual data points. “All test objectives were successfully achieved and the data will help increase confidence in our simulation models on Earth before extrapolating to conditions on Titan,” he said.
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Analysis of that much data was carried out in a collaborative effort with specialists from various institutions, from the University of Central Florida to NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. APL’s Rick Heisler, who oversaw the TDT test campaign, emphasized understanding Dragonfly rotor performance in Titan’s unique atmosphere.
“The heavy gas environment in TDT has a density three and a half times higher than air when operating at ambient pressure and temperature at sea level,” Heisler said. That, he said, allows the rotor to operate in conditions near Titan and better mimic lift forces and dynamic loading.
As the mission pieces come together, the enormity of the task and the historical nature of the mission become the team’s focus. “With Dragonfly, we are turning science fiction into exploration fact. “These missions are progressing one step at a time, and we are excited for each next step in sending this revolutionary helicopter across the skies and surface of Titan,” said Hibbard. Source: Space.com
2023-10-27 02:12:00
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