Entomopters! - Any techinical details?

bill_cunningham · 2002-01-29 00:54:09

Can anybody provide me with, or point me to, any specific details about the entomopter concept?

I've read a couple of articles online, but none of them went into enough detail.

For example, all the articles mentioned that the proposed vehicle would be using a "chemical muscle" to achieve the high rate of wingbeats necessary to get the little bug-plane aloft. What is a "chemical muscle", how does such a thing work?

What kind of wing surface is required to use this concept in the martian atmosphere, and how would that compare to designing one for Earth?

Has there been any thought to using such a thing to transport a person? I know the ones that are being talked about now are very small, and are essentially rover enhancements to help expand the field of a robotic mission beyond surface obstacles such as boulders or small ravines. Is it even practical to consider designing one to carry a person, and if not, why?

Any info or referrals would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Phobos · 2002-01-29 18:06:27

For example, all the articles mentioned that the proposed vehicle would be using a "chemical muscle" to achieve the high rate of wingbeats necessary to get the little bug-plane aloft. What is a "chemical muscle", how does such a thing work?

Would the Martian atmosphere be thick enough to make a machine which flies by beating its wings practical? If it is practical, I wonder if it would be better to make the chemical muscle you talk about turn the crankshaft to a propeller rather than flap wings. I imagine if flapping wings could produce lift, then fixed wing aircraft with large propellers could also fly.

bill_cunningham · 2002-01-29 20:50:40

No, no this is for real.

It's a very small robot camera that is designed to fly like a bee in the martian atmosphere,

The way I understand it, "flapping", the way a bee does it, is actually a more practical solution to flying in the ultra thin martian atmosphere than a traditional wing or propeller arrangement.

Here's a link to one of the not-very-informative articles I've found so far:

http://www.cosmiverse.com/space12030102.html

Check it out, it's really interesting.

RobS · 2002-01-30 15:51:46

This is a fascinating topic. Here's another link to flying on Mars I just found: http://www.cosmiverse.com/space/01230201.html.

It appears that flapping wings are better than fixed wings because the thin air requires very high takeoff and landing speeds for fixed wing, and because flapping wings generate strong wing vortices that create more lift per square meter of wing surface. This is important because of the thin air as well.

Yes, the reference to a chemical muscle is strange. The article referred to "reciprocating" and "waste gases" making it sound like an engine of some sort. They may be speaking indirectly to protect their technology.

Phobos · 2002-01-30 18:56:02

Wow, I had no idea they were planning to build robotic probes that flew by flapping wings. I'd love to see one of these things in action. I wonder if such a design could be scaled up into a craft capable of transporting human passengers. Flying in something like that would feel truly alien. Who knows, in the distant future when someone mentions Mars, entomopters might spring to mind since these vehicle will probably be unique to Mars.

bill_cunningham · 2002-03-17 23:58:58

Thanks chestera! I'll see if I can track that reference down. I'll post the details here if I find it.

Shaun Barrett · 2002-03-21 06:10:12

I've got a suspicion it's not metal but some form of polymer. However, I'm quite prepared to be shot down on this point!
Somebody examined the idea of regular airplanes in the thin Martian atmosphere, and came to the conclusion that enormously fast take-off and landing speeds were required; above the speed of sound in Martian air. Although it was not impossible, it was found to be difficult. And, in addition, it was found that inertia was a big problem: Manoeuvering any craft in such thin air needed advance-planning because of the long lag-time between the "order" to turn and any response from the aircraft.
If flapping wings can help, then I wish the researchers involved the very best of luck; it may well be the way of the future!

Michael Bloxham · 2002-04-01 23:40:35

Ornithopters are going big on the defense budget. I wouldn't be too surprised if the first martian aircraft were indeed ornithopters. Can anyone say 'Dune'?

For all things Ornithopter, or Entomopter, refer to the February 2001 Popular Mechanics article, 'Micro Warfare'

Adrian · 2002-04-02 08:06:17

Forget vanilla ornithopters, check out NASA's new 'flexible flier'. There's an article about it in the newest Wired, which I've transcribed below (it's not online yet):

Birds do it. Bees do it. So do houseflies and even bats. But just how they change shape during flight has eluded aircraft designers since Orville Wright watched gulls wheel over Kitty Hawk. "I call it efficient multipoint adaptabiity," says Anna-Marie McGowan, manager of the Morphing Project at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The 90 engineers and scientists working on the project are dreaming up aircraft that morph in flight and are lighter, faster, more efficient and safer than anything in the skies today.

Start with the skeleton. Rather than using standard aluminium and carbon graphite, McGowan is experimenting with a flexible, bonelike structure of carbon nanotubes - tiny capped cyliners of carbon molecules created under extreme heat. Some 50,000 times thinner than a human hair, carbon nanotubes are 180 to 600 times stronger than steel.

And forget wings as we know them, fixed in shape and controlled by mechanical and hydraulic flaps and ailerons. Morphing planes would have temperature-sensitive shape-memory alloys embedded with heating coils that would curl, twist and extend, depending on conditions. Strings of small air vales called synthetic microjets would line the leading or trailing edges of the wings and change airflow by blowing or sucking. Wings would be thick and long for low-speed takeoffs and landings, then re-form to be thin, short and swept for high-speed efficiency.

McGowan imagines the craft's skin embedded with piezoelectric material, which sends an electric current under wind pressure and changes shape when charged. Like animal skin, it would monitor surface pressure and twitch to further change the plane's shape. "At first you'll see some of these things retrofitted on current aircraft," McGowan says. "But long term, you'll see radical changes in the way planes are built." In other words, let's do it.

(by Carl Hoffan, in the Must Read - Margin Notes section of the April 2002, 10.04 edition of Wired).

Earthman · 2003-12-21 20:14:51

It's pretty windy most of the time everywhere on mars, or will we discover differently? This is the main design variable of a mars flyer.

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#1 2002-01-29 00:54:09

Re: Entomopters! - Any techinical details?

#2 2002-01-29 18:06:27

Re: Entomopters! - Any techinical details?

#3 2002-01-29 20:50:40

Re: Entomopters! - Any techinical details?

#4 2002-01-30 15:51:46

Re: Entomopters! - Any techinical details?

#5 2002-01-30 18:56:02

Re: Entomopters! - Any techinical details?

#6 2002-03-17 23:58:58

Re: Entomopters! - Any techinical details?

#7 2002-03-21 06:10:12

Re: Entomopters! - Any techinical details?

#8 2002-04-01 23:40:35

Re: Entomopters! - Any techinical details?

#9 2002-04-02 08:06:17

Re: Entomopters! - Any techinical details?

#10 2003-12-21 20:14:51

Re: Entomopters! - Any techinical details?

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