Critical Aerodynamics and Flight Dynamics Challenges of Mars Rotorcraft
Operating rotorcraft in the thin Martian atmosphere presents unique aerodynamic and flight dynamics challenges—first addressed during NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter mission in 2021. This seminar reviews these challenges for both current and future Mars rotorcraft. Topics include the characteristics of the Martian aerodynamic regime, Earth-based testing approaches, and Ingenuity’s flight dynamics validation on Mars.
Future rotorcraft concepts will be significantly larger and more complex than Ingenuity’s coaxial design. Multi-rotor configurations introduce additional modeling difficulties, particularly in accurately capturing rotor wake interactions without resorting to computationally expensive blade-resolved CFD. To address this, the seminar will also discuss the application of the Viscous Vortex Particle Method (VVPM) as a mid-fidelity tool for simulating rotor wakes in Mars rotorcraft.
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- Starts 04 February 2026 08:00 AM UTC
- Ends 27 February 2026 08:00 AM UTC
- No Admission Charge
Speakers
Tove Agren
Critical Aerodynamics and Flight Dynamics Challenges of Mars Rotorcraft
Operating rotorcraft in the thin Martian atmosphere presents unique aerodynamic and flight dynamics challenges—first addressed during NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter mission in 2021. This seminar reviews these challenges for both current and future Mars rotorcraft. Topics include the characteristics of the Martian aerodynamic regime, Earth-based testing approaches, and Ingenuity’s flight dynamics validation on Mars.
Future rotorcraft concepts will be significantly larger and more complex than Ingenuity’s coaxial design. Multi-rotor configurations introduce additional modeling difficulties, particularly in accurately capturing rotor wake interactions without resorting to computationally expensive blade-resolved CFD. To address this, the seminar will also discuss the application of the Viscous Vortex Particle Method (VVPM) as a mid-fidelity tool for simulating rotor wakes in Mars rotorcraft.
Biography:
Tove Ågren, Analytical Mechanics Associates, NASA Ames Research Center, Aeromechanics Office
Tove Ågren holds an M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. She is a researcher in the Aeromechanics Office at NASA Ames Research Center, where her work focuses on aero- and flight dynamics modeling for Mars rotorcraft, with applications of machine learning to aerodynamic prediction and system identification. In 2023, she led in-situ flight testing of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter for which her team was recognized with the Franklin Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Powered-Lift Field by the Vertical Flight Society
Tove of NASA Ames Research Center
Critical Aerodynamics and Flight Dynamics Challenges of Mars Rotorcraft
Biography:
· Speaker name and affiliation
Tove Ågren, Analytical Mechanics Associates, NASA Ames Research Center, Aeromechanics Office
Tove Ågren holds an M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. She is a researcher in the Aeromechanics Office at NASA Ames Research Center, where her work focuses on aero- and flight dynamics modeling for Mars rotorcraft, with applications of machine learning to aerodynamic prediction and system identification. In 2023, she led in-situ flight testing of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter for which her team was recognized with the Franklin Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Powered-Lift Field by the Vertical Flight Society.