Browsing by Author "Youhanna, Vishal"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Conceptual design study based on defined parameters for next-generation Martian rotorcrafts
    (IEEE, 2024-05-13) Youhanna, Vishal; Felicetti, Leonard; Ignatyev, Dmitry
    The remarkable achievement of NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter has opened exciting possibilities for the future exploration of Mars, suggesting that aerobots will play a crucial role alongside rovers and landers. However, Ingenuity’s capabilities are limited by its small and relatively basic design. This limitation is primarily evident in its restricted long-range endurance and limited capacity for scientific payloads. To address these shortcomings and advance the field of Martian drone technology, this paper introduces a practical approach to optimising the Martian rotorcraft concepts within the set parameters. The primary objective of these concepts is to enhance performance, endurance, and payload capacity to meet more demanding requirements for future Martian aerobot missions. The paper addresses an essential phase in the design process—an initial sizing of rotary electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) configurations. This phase is informed by a comprehensive parametric analysis, which considers various factors affecting the performance of drones during hover (stationary flight), vertical climb (ascending flight), and forward flight. The analysis is based on the principles of simplified rotorcraft momentum theory, a foundational concept in rotorcraft engineering. These Martian drone concepts are tailored to address the more challenging mission requirements that future Martian exploration missions are likely to demand. These requirements may include extended flight durations, increased payload capacity to accommodate scientific instruments, and the ability to cover larger areas on the Martian surface. Importantly, the designs are constrained by the maximum size of the spacecraft aeroshell, ensuring that they can be safely transported to Mars within the confines of the protective aeroshell. Among the various configurations considered in this study, a tandem rotorcraft configuration emerged as the most efficient option. This configuration is expected to attain a balance between performance, endurance, and payload capacity, making it a promising choice for future Martian aerobot missions. In contrast, the analysis revealed that a conventional single main rotor configuration within the defined parameters performed poorly in meeting the requirements of the mission.
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    Futuristic Martian aerobot design
    (2022-08-26) Youhanna, Vishal; Ignatyev, Dmitry; Felicetti, Leonard
    NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter has proved that flight is possible on Mars with its ingenious yet elementary design, but it lacks long-range endurance and the capacity to carry any dedicated scientific instruments. In this paper, we propose a preliminary study for an innovative development in the series of Martian drones. The Futuristic Mars Aerobot Design (FuMAD) proposes a foldable winged drone based on Ingenuity’s rotors design for enhancing long-range endurance and payload capacity.
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    Parametric analysis of battery-electric rotorcraft configurations to fly on Mars
    (Council of European Aerospace Societies (CEAS), 2023-07-13) Youhanna, Vishal; Felicetti, Leonard; Ignatyev, Dmitry
    The success of NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter promises that the future exploration of Mars will include aerobots in line with rovers and landers. However, Ingenuity lacks long-range endurance and scientific payload capacity because of its small and elementary design. In the series of optimised Martian drone concepts development, we introduced in this paper - an initial sizing of rotary eVTOL design configurations based on the performed parametric analysis for hover and vertical climb using simplified rotorcraft momentum theory, for a set of more challenging requirements for a Martian aerobot mission and sized to fit into the maximum spacecraft aeroshell limit. A tandem rotor configuration was found to be the most efficient configuration, whereas a conventional single main rotor configuration with small diameters manifested the poorest performance.
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    Parametric analysis of rotary VTOL aerobot design configurations to fly on Titan
    (International Astronautical Federation (IAF), 2024-10-18) Youhanna, Vishal; Felicetti, Leonard; Ignatyev, Dmitry
    The exploration of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, presents significant aerodynamic challenges due to its dense atmosphere and low gravity, necessitating specialised rotorcraft designs. This study conducts a parametric analysis of multiple rotary Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aerobot configurations, including conventional helicopters, coaxial systems, tandem rotorcraft, quadcopters, and hexacopters, with a focus on performance in Titan's environment. Using simplified momentum theory, the power consumption and operational efficiency of these rotorcraft are evaluated across key flight phases such as vertical climb, hover, and forward flight. The analysis highlights that hexacopter configurations are the most power-efficient during vertical ascent and hover for smaller rotor diameters, whereas conventional helicopter designs excel in forward flight for larger rotor sizes. The study also utilises Battery Mass Fraction (BMF) calculations to assess the energy requirements for various flight segments, offering valuable insights into the energy-efficient design of rotorcraft for Titan exploration. This research establishes a foundational framework for optimising rotorcraft design in extraterrestrial environments, providing critical data for future missions aimed at exploring Titan’s surface and atmosphere.
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    Preliminary design exploration of prospective multirotor aerobots
    (ICAS, 2024-09-30) Youhanna, Vishal; Felicetti, Leonard; Ignatyev, Dmitry
    The groundbreaking success of NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter has spurred immense potential for Martian exploration, emphasizing the pivotal role of aerobots alongside rovers and landers. However, the helicopter's limitations, stemming from its compact and simplistic design, are apparent in its restricted long-range endurance and payload capacity. This paper suggests a feasible optimisation approach for Martian rotorcraft concepts while addressing constraints and progressing Martian drone technology. The key focus lies in improving performance to meet the evolving demands of forthcoming Martian aerobot missions. Based on a comprehensive parametric analysis rooted in simplified rotorcraft momentum theory, this study focuses on power requirements of rotorcrafts with single, coaxial, tandem, quad and hexa rotors for hover, vertical climb, and forward flight segments. Modified to meet more demanding mission criteria, these designs are limited by the spacecraft aeroshell's maximum size for safe transport to Mars. Among the considered configurations, the hexacopter emerged as the most efficient choice, offering a balance between performance, endurance, and payload capacity, while a conventional single main rotor configuration fell short within the specified parameters.
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    Systematic methodology for the preliminary design of future rotary VTOL martian aerobots
    (Elsevier, 2025-06) Youhanna, Vishal; Felicetti, Leonard; Ignatyev, Dmitry I.
    This paper proposes and describes a methodology for the preliminary design of aerobots for future Martian exploration missions within a framework. The methodology takes into account inputs derived from top-level mission requirements and site locations to obtain the critical mission parameters that affect the performance of the rotorcraft. The proposed methodology allows for incorporating multi-rotor configurations into the trade-offs based on the required power to perform flight profiles. The equations, based on momentum theory for conventional helicopters, are derived and generalised to estimate the required power for flight segments such as hover, vertical climb, and forward flight for rotorcraft with both overlapping and non-overlapping rotors such as coaxial, tandem, and multirotor configurations. The resulting performance data is used for sizing and selecting the critical components of the aerobot in a mission scenario, such as rotor and battery sizes. Notably, the analyses conducted on rotorcraft with single and dual rotors identified a tandem rotorcraft configuration without folding mechanisms as the optimal choice due to its superior power efficiency and mechanical simplicity. Through calculated equations for battery mass and available empty mass estimation, this framework enables the optimisation and selection of an efficient rotary VTOL aerobot for Martian missions in the years to come.
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    Systematic selection of the next generation Martian rotorcraft configurations
    (International Astronautical Federation (IAF), 2024-10-16) Youhanna, Vishal; Felicetti, Leonard; Ignatyev, Dmitry
    The successful deployment of NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter has paved the way for the development of advanced rotorcraft for Martian exploration. Despite Ingenuity's achievements, its limitations in endurance, payload, and range highlight the need for optimised designs for future Martian aerobot missions. This paper addresses these challenges by proposing and systematically analysing various rotorcraft configurations, including single rotors, coaxial designs, tandem rotors, quadcopters, and hexacopters, under Martian conditions. Through a detailed parametric analysis based on simplified momentum theory, power requirements are calculated for each configuration during hover, vertical climb, and forward flight. Special attention is given to coaxial multirotor designs, which offer improved performance in terms of power efficiency and payload capacity. The application of the Battery Mass Fraction (BMF) methodology further demonstrates the viability of electric-powered rotorcraft for extended Martian operations. The study identifies coaxial hexacopters as the most efficient configurations, providing a strong basis for the next generation of Martian aerial vehicles.