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Robotic Future · Vehicles and getting around

Drone taxi

Topic: rotorcraft

A flying vehicle with four rotors. A small helicopter has already flown on Mars, and a drone will fly on Saturn's moon Titan.

First flight on Mars
Ingenuity, April 19, 2021
Ingenuity flights
72
Next
Dragonfly, to Titan
On Earth
Electric air taxis being tested

Find it on the map

Real world Flying on Mars

On April 19, 2021, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter made the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. Mars's air is about 1% as thick as Earth's, so Ingenuity's blades had to spin very fast to lift it. Planned for five test flights, it made 72 before a damaged blade ended its mission in 2024.

NASA's Dragonfly mission will send a car-sized drone with eight rotors to Titan, Saturn's largest moon, which has thick air and low gravity, ideal for flying.

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter on Mars, photographed by the Perseverance rover. Photo: semeion.photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Simeon Schmauß, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Real world Air taxis on Earth

Several companies are testing electric aircraft that take off and land straight up, like big drones, as air taxis for short trips across cities. Noise, safety, batteries and where to land are the big questions.

An artist's view of NASA's Dragonfly rotorcraft landing on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Photo: NASA/JHU-APL, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Possible future Flying around a settlement

On Mars, drones could scout routes for rovers, carry small parcels or inspect equipment. Carrying people would need much bigger and more powerful machines, and the Moon, with no air at all, would need rockets instead of rotors.

A Volocopter, an electric air taxi prototype with many small rotors, at a motor show in Frankfurt. Photo: Matti Blume, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Art In this artwork

This illustration shows a white and red craft with four ring-shaped rotors and a small cabin.

Back view

Look closer

  • Count the rotors.
  • Find the antenna on top.

Think about it

  1. Why do helicopter blades need to spin faster on Mars?
  2. Would you ride in a drone taxi? Why or why not?
  3. What rules should flying vehicles follow over a city?

Key words

Rotor
A set of spinning blades that lifts an aircraft.
Atmosphere
The layer of gas around a planet or moon.
Rotorcraft
An aircraft lifted by rotors, such as a helicopter or drone.

Sources

The real-world facts on this page are based on these sources:

  • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter (first flight April 19, 2021; 72 flights)
  • NASA and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Dragonfly rotorcraft mission to Titan

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