Mars Aerial and Ground Global Intelligent Explorer: Difference between revisions

'''Mars Aerial and Ground Global Intelligent Explorer''' or '''MAGGIE''' is a proposed compact [[Unmanned aerial vehicle|UAV]] fixed wing [[electric aircraft]] powered by [[solar energy]] to fly in the [[Atmosphere of Mars|Martian atmosphere]] with [[VTOL|vertical take-off/landing]] ([[VTOL]]) capability. The range of MAGGIE for a fully charged battery is {{convert|179|km|mi}} at an altitude of 1,000 meters, the aircraft would land then and recharge its batteries with the [[solar cell]]s on its wings and body. The total range per Martian year is {{convert|16,048|km|mi}}. Mar's atmosphere is 6.35 [[mbar]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.space.com/16903-mars-atmosphere-climate-weather.html|title=Mars' Atmosphere: Composition, Climate & Weather|first1=Daisy DobrijevicContributions from Elizabeth|last1=Howell|first2=Tim Sharp last|last2=updatedDobrijevic|date=February 25, 2022|website=Space.com}}</ref> which is 160x thinner than [[Atmosphere of Earth|Earth's Atmosphere]] at 1013.2 mbar.<ref>https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/atmosphere/air-pressure#:~:text=The%20standard%20pressure%20at%20sea,the%20atmosphere%20decreases%20with%20height.</ref> During winter the global atmospheric pressure on Mars is 25% lower than during summer because some [[Co2]] from the atmosphere freezes into [[dry ice]] on the [[Martian polar ice caps]]. MAGGIE has a cruise [[lift coefficient|lift coefficient]] CL of 3.5, nearly an order of magnitude higher than conventional [[subsonic aircraft]] to overcome the low density of the Martian atmosphere.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/general/mars-aerial-and-ground-global-intelligent-explorer/|title=Mars Aerial and Ground Global Intelligent Explorer (MAGGIE) - NASA|date=January 4, 2024}}</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20090414055517/http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/scitech/display.cfm?ST_ID=725</ref>

The cruise [[Mach number]] of MAGGIE is 0.25, Mach speed on Mars is 546.4 mph at sea level, so cruising speed would be around 130 mph at elevation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aerospaceweb.org/question/atmosphere/q0249.shtml|title=Aerospaceweb.org &#124; Ask Us - Speed of Sound on Mars|website=aerospaceweb.org}}</ref>