Americans send helicopter to Mars

houston - In a few years, a helicopter will fly around on Mars. The United States is building a small vessel that will have to leave for the red planet around 2020 and arrive there in 2021. It is the first time that a machine will fly around independently on another celestial body.

The American space agency NASA announced the plans on Friday. The Mars Helicopter must be launched together with an unmanned trolley called Mars 2020. The helicopter weighs just under two kilos and the blades rotate 3000 laps per minute, about ten times as fast as on earth. This is necessary because the air on Mars is much thinner than the air here.

The helicopter has to plan its own flight and make decisions. Every mission of the flight control on earth would arrive only a few minutes later on Mars, too late to intervene if necessary.

The helicopter is an experiment. If it does not work, there is nothing to worry about, says NASA. But if it does work, 'marskopters' can explore areas where cars can not drive.

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