Archive: https://archive.today/X7f5m
From the post:
>Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, have demonstrated that the blades of their next-generation Mars helicopter rotors can punch past the speed of sound and come out intact. In recent tests, a three-bladed rotor reached Mach 1.08 in simulated Martian conditions, boosting lift capacity by 30% without a single blade fracturing.
Making something that can fly on Mars is a brutal challenge. The red planet has air density roughly 1% of that here on Earth, meaning every meter of altitude gained demands a disproportionate amount of effort. To generate meaningful lift in that near-vacuum, you have only two options: spin the blades faster, or make them longer. Both paths lead toward the speed of sound, where aerodynamics becomes deeply unpredictable.
Archive: https://archive.today/X7f5m
From the post:
>>Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, have demonstrated that the blades of their next-generation Mars helicopter rotors can punch past the speed of sound and come out intact. In recent tests, a three-bladed rotor reached Mach 1.08 in simulated Martian conditions, boosting lift capacity by 30% without a single blade fracturing.
Making something that can fly on Mars is a brutal challenge. The red planet has air density roughly 1% of that here on Earth, meaning every meter of altitude gained demands a disproportionate amount of effort. To generate meaningful lift in that near-vacuum, you have only two options: spin the blades faster, or make them longer. Both paths lead toward the speed of sound, where aerodynamics becomes deeply unpredictable.
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