Although the thin and cold Martian atmosphere provides the feasibility of rotorcraft flight on Mars, rotors designed for denser Earth atmosphere with small angles of attack hardly generate enough thrust for rotorcraft flight at conventional rotational speeds in the Martian atmosphere. In this paper, we employ the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm to search for the control points of the Bezier curve, completing the parameterization of the airfoil upper and lower curves based on these control points. In order to directly enhance the lift-to-drag ratio of the airfoil at high angles of attack, the NSGA-Ⅱ algorithm is utilized to optimize the lift-to-drag ratio of NACA 6904 at α = 17.5°, Ma = 0.43, Re = 7600, and CLF 5605 at α = 15°, Ma = 0.7, Re = 7481, respectively. The two-dimensional RANS (Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes) and k-ω SST turbulence models are employed in the optimization process by CFD to predict the lift and drag characteristics of the airfoil in a Martian environment. Under simulated Mars atmospheric conditions (pressure of 1380 Pa, test temperature of 24 ℃, equivalent Mars atmospheric density at the surface of 0.0162 g/cm³), the airfoil after optimized is subjected to rotor lift-drag characteristic tests where a single-rotor lift-drag characteristic test bench is employed for verification. The experimental results demonstrate that the RB-TB-Ⅱ blade, which is obtained by optimizing the airfoil based on the RB-SWQ-Ⅰ blade, exhibits a 19.6% increase in Power Loading (PL) and a 20.4% increase in Figure of Merit (FM) compared with the RB-SWQ-Ⅰ blade. Based on the results of airfoil optimization, increasing the camber at the leading edge of the airfoil under high angles of attack contributes to an improved lift-to-drag ratio.

Compared to the Mars rover, the Mars rotorcraft’s ability to take off and land vertically makes it more capable of performing missions on Mars, as its detection missions are not restricted by terrain and its detection efficiency is higher. This paper introduces a Mars quadcopter capable of conducting sampling detection on the planet’s surface. This paper optimizes the chord length distribution of the blades of Mars quadcopter by using flight power consumption as a constraint to enhance the aircraft’s overall performance. The thin and cold atmosphere of Mars forces the blades to operate under low-Reynolds-number and high-Mach-number conditions, leading to reduced thrust and increased drag. This paper proposes an optimization method that combines weighted ensemble of neural networks with spatial discretization to optimize the blade of Mars quadcopter. This method employs 4 optimizers to train neural network models, each designed to fit the mathematical mapping relationship between 14 variables for blade chord length parameter distributions and performance values. This paper integrates the aforementioned 4 models using a weighted ensemble method. Building on the concept of spatial discretization, this paper simplifies infinite parameter combinations into finite ones. Subsequently, the neural network is used to predict the performance values of various parameter combinations, enabling the selection of high-performance blade. This paper conducted a single-rotor lift–drag characteristic test on the optimized blades in an environment with an equivalent Martian surface atmospheric density of 0.016 kg/m³.

Asteroid exploration is significant for studying the origin of the solar system, establishing planetary defenses, and alleviating the resource crisis of the Earth. Asteroid anchoring is the basis of in-situ exploration and resource development and utilization. Therefore, the performance of asteroid force-closure anchoring is investigated using the discrete element method. The micro parameters of the simulated materials are calibrated with angle of repose and uniaxial compression experiments, based on which the regional modeling method is adopted to establish the anchoring discrete element model. Asteroid anchoring experiments are conducted on a self-developed microgravity simulation platform to verify the accuracy of the simulation model. The asteroid anchoring simulations are performed to investigate the influence of external force on the anchoring performance. The analysis of anchoring force varying with time and the interaction between the anchor and regolith particles reveals the influence mechanism of external force direction on the anchoring performance. The external force direction affects the critical anchoring force by influencing the failure of the force-closure structure. The comprehensive analysis of simulation results clarifies the variation of the critical anchoring force with the external forces. Finally, a stable anchoring region is established, beneficial for asteroid anchoring device design.