A Preliminary Systems Engineering Study on a Concept for Mars Exploration with an Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle and Ground Rover

Exploration of Mars has been one of the focus of the aerospace community for its similarity with the Earth. The characteristics of Mars make possible an aerial flight even with the low pressure in its atmosphere. In an age where the ground rover exploration is dominant, the addition of a rotary-wing unmanned autonomous vehicle (UAV) would expand the exploration possibilities, increasing the range and the amount of scientific data collected. In this work, it is shown a conceptual systems design that combines a rotary-wing UAV and a ground rover in collaboration, for the exploration of the terrain. The work was developed in the Systems Engineering level of conceptualization and Design phase. Subsequent Computer-Aided-Design (CAD), Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Rapid Prototyping were performed as well in this study.