Mars Aerial and Ground Global Intelligent Explorer: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Proposed Mars exploration aircraft}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}

'''Mars Aerial and Ground Global Intelligent Explorer''' or '''MAGGIE''' is a proposed compact, autonomous, fixed wing, [[VTOL|vertical take-off/landing (VTOL)]], [[electric aircraft]] powered by [[solar energy]]. It is designed to operate on [[Atmosphere of Mars|Mars]]. Range with a fully charged battery would be {{convert|179|km|mi}} at an altitude of 1,000 meters. The aircraft features [[solar cell]]s on its wings and fuselage. The total range per Martian year would be {{convert|16,048|km|mi}}. Mars' atmosphere density 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 |last1=Dobrijevic|date=February 25, 2022|website=Space.com}}</ref> 160x thinner than [[Atmosphere of Earth|Earth's atmosphere]] at 1013.2 mbar.<ref>[https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/atmosphere/air-pressure Air pressure] noaa.gov</ref> During the [[Climate of Mars#Seasons|southern winter]], the global atmospheric pressure on Mars is 25% lower than during summer, because some atmospheric [[carbon dioxide|{{CO2}}]] freezes on the [[Martian polar ice caps]]. MAGGIE has a cruise [[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 Solar system] NASA</ref> MAGGIE's cruise [[Mach number]] is 0.25. Mach speed on Mars is 546.4 mph at "[[Areography#Zero_elevation|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>

In January 2024, MAGGIE was one of thirteen proposals approved for Phase 1 funding by the [[NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts|NIAC]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-01-04 |title=NIAC 2024 Selections - NASA |url=https://www.nasa.gov/general/niac-2024-selections/ |access-date=2024-01-27 |website=NASA |language=en-US}}</ref>

* Study [[Magnetic field of Mars|Martian core dynamo]] origin and timing from the weak magnetic fields found in the [[North Polar Basin (Mars)|large impact basins]].

* Investigate the source of [[methane]] signals detected by the [[Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy|Tunable Laser Spectrometer]] on the [[Mars Science Laboratory]] in [[Gale (crater)|Gale crater]].

* Map [[Water on Mars|subsurface water ice]] at high resolution in the mid-latitudes.

* [[Ingenuity (helicopter)|''Ingenuity'' helicopter]]

* [[Solar-powered aircraft]]

* [[Mars Piloted Orbital Station]]

{{Mars spacecraft|state=collapsed}}