Chinese scientists have proposed the development of a hypersonic aircraft to travel across future Mars colonies. The team has already developed a concept for a drone that weighs 1,100 pounds and could travel at five times the speed of sound, according to the South China Morning Post.
The drone is capable of cruising at an altitude of 5,000 meters. This is still at a nascent stage, though, it is expected to take several more decades to become a reality. “The first hypersonic flight on Mars may not happen within 30 years because many technical issues need to be solved,” said Xu Xu, a researcher at Beihang University on the team working on the drone.
Making travel on Mars easy
Besides, it’s unclear whether the drone will travel more than sound’s speed on Earth or Mars. The speed of sound on the Red Planet is around 540 mph, while on Earth, the speed is roughly around 760 mph, according to NASA.
Part of the goal with the new age drones is to help connect potential future Mars colonies. These communities would likely be located across the surface of Mars, so being able to travel between them will be beneficial to transport resources. Xu told SCMP that “when humans start to colonize Mars, with some settlements built at different locations across the planet, there will be a demand for long-distance transport.”
No resemblance from NASA’s Ingenuity chopper
The Chinese Mars drone will not resemble NASA’s Ingenuity drone for obvious reasons. For one, it has to be big enough to ferry people and goods. Moreover, it’s also going to do away with helicopter propellers and have more of an aerodynamic design, which SCMP suggests looks like a cruise missile.
The drone is said to be fueled by magnesium. That’s due to the fact that the atmosphere on the Red Planet is roughly 96 percent CO2, which magnesium burns quite efficiently. “Here on Earth carbon dioxide is a waste product of burning,” Xu told SCMP. “It is not a good oxidizer. Magnesium can burn in carbon dioxide when the temperature is high enough, but it is not very efficient.”
