Explore Mars by Airplane – Unmanned?

Is there actually enough atmosphere to support a plane?

I watched something about this on NASA TV.

I cannot find it in this link, but I recall an airspeed of about 300 KM/H was required.

Without doing any calculations it seems like the energy needed to keep a plane in flight would be far greater than a land based rover. When it crashes it probably going to be a total loss. The rover has a bit more sustainability on the ground as the ops can "see" where they are going and hopefully make adjustments to the course prior to crashing.

It just feels like a lot more variables in the works for a plane and than for a rover. I'd love to see the NASA admin's risk analysis for this decision.

The rovers have done fantastic! Why change?

It is difficult to understand the scientist's logic. They should be able to see things like methane plumes from higher up. The plane's one trip would see a very small area in reality.

Russ

I believe you are correct: "The rovers have done fantastic!" But there remains a lot about mars that can only be discovered in the 'Boundary Layer'. From the site in post #2:

• ARES will measure the crustal magnetization, spatial variability, and field magnitude at km-scale spatial resolution.
• ARES will provide the ability to resolve the crustal magnetism source structure with spatial resolution two orders of magnitude higher than Mars Global Surveyor.
• ARES measurements will allow scientists to determine the role of water vapor in the Mars atmospheric chemical cycle.
• ARES will search for potential biogenic gases, volcanic gases, and chemically active gases to determine their spatial distributions and to locate and/or constrain local sources and sinks.
• ARES characterizes the structure and dynamics of the Mars atmosphere's boundary layer over regional scales.
• ARES will expand upon Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter measurements by measuring water-equivalent hydrogen abundance and ice burial depth at greatly improved spatial scales.

This sounds a teriffic opportunity to learn much from our closest neighbor.

Lot of stuff to do on a 'one shot and out' mission!

I expect the science another set of rovers could do over a few months or few years would be 10,000 times more.

Most likely this particular has a lot of ego invested in his dream.

Russ