AIAA Banquet and Mars Ingenuity Presentation

Come join AIAA-SF for food and fun at our 2023 Annual Banquet. Help us celebrate with this year’s Section Awards winners. Your ticket includes lunch, admission to the Oakland Aviation Museum and its exhibits, and a presentation from our special guest Shannah Withrow-Maser about the Mars Helicopter.

Ingenuity has shown that flying in the Martian atmosphere is possible, and that helicopters can provide critical insight and support to ground-based assets. Though Ingenuity was designed for five flights, to date, 66 flights have been completed with ~119 min of flight time and ~9 miles flown. What would it take for an Ingenuity-class helicopter to help return the first samples from Mars to Earth? The smallest robotic arm ever flown on Mars, more capable rotors, a driving system, and flight software upgrades to start. The Mars Sample Recovery Helicopters are in development to provide back up to the Perseverance rover as part of the Mars Sample Return mission concept. Come hear about the work required to quickly transition a helicopter design from a technology demonstrator to a flying, driving, sample collecting capable vehicle and the potential future of rotorcraft on Mars!

Speaker: Shannah Withrow-Maser, NASA Ames

Prices increase 12/5.