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#1 Re: Planetary transportation » Airplanes on Mars » 2007-10-30 08:32:27

What happened to balloons? They can last a long time, they are pretty reliable, well understood, simple, and could either descend or drop a sample collector. Easy to power with thin-film polymer solar cells on the balloon too perhaps.

An update  on the Archimedes probe, a privately built balloon probe to Mars, by the Mars Society and AMSAT in Germany. Of all the current similar projects, it has probably the most chance of flying. It's in the 5th year of development, with lot of real tests.

The price tag is probably around 5-10 million euros.

#2 Re: Planetary transportation » Wind Surfing on Mars, Is it possible? » 2007-10-30 08:31:26

Slightly offtopic: I read the atmosphere is so dense on Saturn's moon Titan, and gravity is so low, that a human would be able to strap on wings and easily fly through the atmosphere. Now that would be fun!

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