Conceptual Study on Storable and Deployable Micro-sized Mars Airplane with MembraneWings

To increase launch opportunities for Mars Airplanes, Micro-sized Mars Airplanes (MMAs) have been studied. Since the Martian atmosphere has a lower density, an MMA must have large wings with high aerodynamic performance to generate sufficient lift. Therefore, an MMA must store and deploy such a large wing efficiently. In this study, we propose an MMA that employs a wing deployment system based on a membrane wing, which provides high storability and low weight. A bi-convex elastic boom was used to ensure deployability and strength. We established an iterative conceptual design process and conducted two iterations to develop two MMA configurations, referred to as Design A and Design B. Design B, developed in the second iteration, satisfied the stowage constraints that Design A failed to meet and achieved an improved tail volume coefficient. However, its center of gravity was located aft of 25% of the mean aerodynamic chord (MAC), resulting in insufficient static stability. To evaluate aerodynamic performance, we conducted numerical simulations of the membrane wing used in Design B and confirmed that the applicability of membrane wings to the MMAs.