System Analyzer for a Bioinspired Mars Flight Vehicle System for Varying Mission Contexts.

The Marsbee is a novel bioinspired flapping flight vehicle concept for aerial Mars exploration. The Marsbee design addresses the challenges of flying on Mars by mimicking the unsteady lift generation mechanisms seen in terrestrial insects To enable the comparison of the Marsbee system to other flying Mars exploration concepts, a study was performed that employs a Multidisciplinary Design Optimization architecture to analyze and optimize the Marsbee system to suit a wide variety of missions. This study developed an analyzer for a Multidisciplinary Design Feasible (MDF) architecture, as well as explored the design space and attributes necessary in an objective function for Mars flying system missions. The analyzer is based on physical models developed in previous studies. Its functionality was demonstrated by analyzing 100,000 randomly generated designs, with design variables close to a prototype Marsbee tested in Martian density conditions. These results show that by using flexible wings rather than rigid wings the maximum flight times increased from 53 minutes to 114 minutes, and the maximum payload masses increased from 28 grams to 61 grams. These are competing effects and cannot be maximized simultaneously. The results of this study will be used to determine the optimal Marsbee system.