FC Engineers Insights Group Webinar

Join our latest webinar which Flight Crowd Engineer Insights Groups will be hosting with Dr Lidia Caros, discussing Martian Helicopter Aerodynamics ⚙️

Webinar abstract:

Flying on Mars is very different from flying on Earth. The atmosphere is much thinner, making it harder for rotorcraft to generate lift. As a result, blade shapes designed for terrestrial helicopters do not perform well on Mars, and new designs are required.

In this webinar, Lidia will introduce how engineers and researchers design rotor blades specifically for the Martian environment. She will explain how computer simulations can recreate airflow around candidate shapes and help reveal how vortices and turbulence influence performance.

By combining these simulations with optimisation techniques, researchers can automatically search for blade shapes that produce more lift while reducing drag. This approach has led to designs that significantly outperform previously tested reference shapes, demonstrating how advanced computational tools can support future planetary exploration.