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Mars Aerial and Ground Global Intelligent ExplorerorMAGGIE is a proposed compact UAV fixed wing electric aircraft powered by solar energy to fly in the Martian atmosphere with vertical take-off/landing (VTOL) capability. The range of MAGGIE for a fully charged battery would be 179 kilometres (111 mi) at an altitude of 1,000 meters. The aircraft would then land and recharge its batteries with the solar cells on its wings and body. The total range per Martian year would be 16,048 kilometres (9,972 mi). Mars' atmosphere density is 6.35 mbar[1] which is 160x thinner than Earth's atmosphere at 1013.2 mbar.[2] During the 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 CL of 3.5, nearly an order of magnitude higher than conventional subsonic aircraft to overcome the low density of the Martian atmosphere.[3][4] 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.[5]
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