Planetary Flight Welcome

a picture of a propellor plane flying
at
Mars

Flying an airplane high above the surface of another planet to perform scientific research might sound routine. After all, thousands of airplanes take flight daily here on Earth. Why would airplane flight on, let's say, Mars be any different?

Welcome to Planetary Flight!

Here you can explore the aeronautics behind flying an airplane on Mars. Whether you are a student in grades 5 through 12 or simply a lifelong learner, you will find learning about non-atmospheric flight on Mars interesting and fun. After learning about non-atmospheric flight, apply your knowledge by designing an airplane that will be capable of flying on Mars.

Teachers! Check out the Teacher's Edition and you will find instructional materials (using the Problem-Based Learning approach) that you can use with your students in the classroom.

Students! Check out the Student Information Page videos of NASA 's Mars Plane ideas from the past.

Looking for a fun Contest to enter? We have some fun plans!

Live Interactive Events

Webcasts

Design a Mars Airplane! This was a two part event. Steve Smith and Peter Gage answered questions in the forum May 18-23, 2001. View the archive of the forum. Andrew Hahn presented some of the challenges of designing a Mars airplane in a webcast on May 22, 2001. View the archive of the webcast.

Atmospheric Flight An archive of an introductory webcast with Steve Smith.

Design, Test and Manufacture of a Planetary Entry Vehicle Model An Archive of a Web cast about the design, manufacture and test of Mars Entry Vehicles.

Chats

April 17, 2001 10 AM QuestChat with Joe Kolecki
April 10, 2001 10 AM QuestChat with Kelly McEntire
March 29, 2001 10 AM Atmospheric Flight 2 a chat with Steve Smith
November 21, 2000 QuestChat archive of the chat with Peter Gage, Designer. Also see Peter's profile.

November 8, 2000 QuestChat archive of the chat with Andrew Hahn, Conceptual Aircraft Designer. Also see Andrew's profile.

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