The Observatory: Ingenuity in Flight
The Observatory is a new weekly series that brings together students, alumni, and professionals associated with OSU Battelle Center to write about topics that are relevant to the mission of our center. Our guest writer this week is OSU Battelle Center alum Kayla Watson. Kayla is a System Reliability Engineer at Amazon Prime Air and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from The Ohio State University. While serving as President of the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals (OBAP), Watson led an effort to develop “UAV Safety City,” a low-cost, low-regulatory-footprint UAV testing facility in the state of Ohio.
In July, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the groundbreaking Perseverance Rover. This rover’s main goal is to look for past signs of life, collect soil samples, and prepare for possible human exploration. This rover has many new updates from its predecessor, Curiosity. One of the most notable updates is the Ingenuity Helicopter. This is the first time a controlled flight will be attempted on another planet. Mars’ atmosphere is less dense than Earth’s, which makes it more difficult to generate lift. Therefore, the rotor blades are comprised of carbon fiber material and will have to move at fast velocities to propel the vehicle. Ingenuity will also have to withstand the significantly decreased temperatures on Mars, reaching -90C some nights.
Ingenuity represents an important intersection between the astronautical and aeronautical sectors of the aerospace industry. Traditionally these sectors have remained separate and moved at different paces. However, there is now rapid innovation in companies on both sides of the industry, such as Uber Elevate and Rocket Lab Made in Space. The frontiers there present the opportunity to leverage technology and solve problems at the intersection of both. The development of Ingenuity required knowledge about hardware that could endure the harsh environment of space and knowledge from aviation about autonomous air vehicles. Partnerships like this are the future of the industry.
This will be key as we solve problems on Earth leveraging technology developed for space and solve space’s challenges with technology developed for Earth. This collaboration will propel both sectors of the aerospace industry to solve their challenges faster and become more equipped to accomplish their goals. Ingenuity is one example of the possible technology that could be developed with greater collaboration between astronautical and aeronautical industries.
