Future of Mars Exploration Could Lie in AME Researchers’ Glider

After the conclusion of NASA’s Opportunity rover mission in February 2019, planetary scientists are looking at new, faster ways to explore the surface of Mars.

Graduate students Adrien Bouskela and Aman Chandra, assistant professor Jekan Thanga, and professor Sergey Shkarayev have developed a concept to launch an unpowered, inflatable glider into the Martian atmosphere. The glider, which would stay aloft using thermal updrafts, could theoretically piggyback on another mission and then cover large distances.

This bird’s-eye view allows for higher-resolution images than the Mars Odyssey orbiter can take. Such images would be used to plan future lander missions, ensure safer landings in scientifically interesting areas such as valleys and ridges apparently shaped by water, and possibly solve numerous mysteries surrounding the red planet, such as why strange lines form on some Martian slopes during summer.