Rotor Design for Mars Helicopters: Overcoming Aerodynamic Challenges for Future Mars Exploration

Speaker: Witold Koning, Science and Technology Corporation / NASA Ames Research Center
March 27, 2025

Presentation

Abstract

Flying a helicopter on Mars presents unique aerodynamic challenges due to the planet’s low atmospheric density, leading to a low Reynolds number regime and necessitating high tip Mach numbers to generate sufficient rotor thrust. This presentation explores recent aerodynamic advancements in rotor design for the Martian environment, including unconventional airfoils and coupled airfoil-rotor optimization. Wind tunnel testing and computational studies reveal the limitations of maintaining laminar flow over the airfoil and underscore the need for innovative airfoil design approaches. The Evolutionary aLgorithm for Iterative Studies of Aeromechanics (ELISA), developed under the Rotor Optimization for the Advancement of Mars eXploration (ROAMX) project, has been employed to optimize rotor hover performance, demonstrating promising efficiency gains over the Ingenuity helicopter rotor. The findings presented provide valuable insights into advancing Martian rotorcraft capabilities for future Mars exploration missions.

Biography

Witold Koning specializes in low Reynolds number flows and rotor performance evaluation and optimization. His work includes performance predictions for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter and rotor optimization for the Mars Science Helicopter, the Sample Recovery Helicopters, and NASA’s Mars Chopper Concept. He also serves as the Computational Lead for the Rotor Optimization for the Advancement of Mars Exploration (ROAMX) project, a $2.5M Early Career Initiative project. Witold earned his master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Delft University of Technology in 2015 and has been with NASA Ames since. He is an active member of both the Vertical Flight Society (VFS, formerly American Helicopter Society) and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

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