Keck Institute for Space Studies - Open Lecture

The Mars Helicopter Scout is a current proposal to demonstrate helicopter flight at Mars on the Mars 2020 mission.  The Mars Helicopter Scout will scout ahead of a planetary surface rover to provide high-resolution aerial images of the terrain for science and operational purposes.  

This talk will describe the scope of the Mars Helicopter Scout proposal, the significant science and operational benefits of a helicopter in planetary surface exploration, and the technical design overview of Mars Helicopter Scout.  

The talk will conclude with examples of feedforward applications of a planetary helicopter to future missions, with an invitation for lecture attendees to join in further envisioning the much bigger, broader future applications offered by this addition of an aerial dimension to the state-of-practice surface rovers and orbiters in planetary exploration today.

This lecture is sponsored by the Keck Institute for Space Studies, and all interested students, staff, faculty and researchers are invited to attend. No registration is required for this open lecture. Seating is limited and is available on a first come, first served basis.