Phase II Final Report - NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts

Planetary Exploration Using Biomimetics
An Entomopter for Flight on Mars
the Global Surveyor. This type of resolution will allow the study of weathering processes, erosion,
surface material composition, and a number of other environmental and geological processes
on Mars.
The complete range of surface imaging can be achieved with two separate cameras:
• A camera can take images of the surface at high resolution.
• A lower resolution, wide angle camera can provide context for these images so
that they can be related to observations from orbiters. An example of this type of
image is shown in Figure 1-13.
Figure 1-13: Example of a Wide-Angle Context Camera-type Image
The purpose of the low resolution, wide angle camera (context camera) is to provide a context
for which low resolution orbital imagery can identify where the Entomopter is taking data and
pictures. Also, the picture has to be of a high enough resolution so that the high resolution camera
images can be found within the picture. This staging of picture resolutions from orbital to
wide angel context imagery to high resolution imagery enables the detailed high resolution
images to be referencable to a global view of the terrain. Orbital imagery of Mars can presently
achieve about 1 m/pixel to 3 m/pixel. Based on this, the context camera with a resolution of 0.15
m/pixel (6:1 ratio) should be sufficient to place the high resolution imagery (at 0.01 m/pixel)
within the context of the orbital spacecraft pictures. For very closeup imagery (such as imaging
a specific rock or the strata on a cliff), the ability to place the high resolution image into the global
imagery may not be possible. However, the context camera can at a minimum place the
detailed image in the general area in which it was taken. This ability to reference the imagery to
a global scale is vital to having the Entomopter data aid in the overall understanding of the
planet.
1.3.3.2 Magnetic Field Mapping and Investigation
Strong remnant fields have been identified from orbital observations of the Mars surface. The
Entomopter provides an ideal platform to investigate these fields. Because of its flight altitude
on the order of 10s of meters, the Entomopter can provide both the spatial resolution and the signal
strength for detailed magnetic field mapping. The information gathered by studying impact
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Phase II Final Report