Imperial Aeronautics staff honoured with NASA award for Mars helicopter research

NASA Ames, Tohoku University and Imperial researchers win award for testing new Mars rotor aerofoils, advancing future helicopter performance on Mars.

A joint team from NASA Ames Research Center, Tohoku University, and Imperial College London has been recognised with their second NASA Group Achievement Award for advancing Martian rotorcraft aerofoil research. Among the awardees are Dr. Lidia Carós Roca, Professor Oliver Buxton, and Professor Peter Vincent from Imperial’s Department of Aeronautics. 

The citation recognises the team “for conducting the first experimental test program to assess next generation rotor airfoil designs that will provide substantial leaps in mission performance for future rotorcraft on Mars. This test program demonstrated and reported the large benefits of these new airfoil designs relative to the airfoils used on the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter rotor.” 

The experiments were conducted in the Tohoku University Mars Wind Tunnel, a unique facility housed within a vacuum chamber and capable of replicating the low-pressure, low-density conditions of Mars at high subsonic Mach numbers. Specifically, the experiments compared the Ingenuity helicopter aerofoil (CLF5605) – a 5% thick, cambered, tear-drop profile used on the outer half of Ingenuity’s blades – with a next-generation ROAMX-0201 aerofoil, a 1% thick unconventional design optimised for Mach 0.60 and Reynolds number 20,000, onditions representative of Mars rotor operation.   

Measurements included lift and drag balance data, Pressure Sensitive Paint (PSP) for detailed surface pressure distributions, and Schlieren imaging to visualise flow fields. Angles of attack from –2° to +6° were tested, representative of hovering conditions for Martian rotorcraft. The resulting dataset – one of the most comprehensive of its kind – provides critical validation material for high-fidelity computational models and will guide the design of future Mars rotorcraft capable of greater range, endurance, and payload capacity. 

Full details are published in the NASA Technical Report: 

“Experimental Results for Mars Rotorcraft Airfoils (ROAMX-0201 and CLF5605) at Low Reynolds Number and Compressible Flow in a Mars Wind Tunnel” 

This award builds on Imperial’s long tradition of aeronautical research, from pioneering wind tunnel experiments in the 1920s to today’s cutting-edge studies of flight in extreme environments. The NASA Group Achievement Award recognises the collaborative achievements of NASA Ames, Tohoku University, and Imperial researchers, and underlines how Imperial staff continue to contribute to advances that will shape the future of planetary exploration.