Artist's impression of a planetary aerobot
flying over the Martian surface © SciSys
(click to enlarge)
flying over the Martian surface © SciSys
(click to enlarge)
Planetary Aerobots will transform the way we explore planets. Combining the close-surface proximity of a rover with the large-area visibility of an orbiter, a planetary aerobot would drift on the currents of an alien atmosphere - it would have the capability of producing extremely high resolution images but would not be limited to an area of a few tens of metres.
SciSys won the role of prime contractor for an 18-month European Space Agency (ESA) study into the viability of planetary aerobots.
See Technologies for information on technical details.
