China’s Concept for a Martian Helicopter Seems Awfully Familiar

[Hamartia Antidote]

Lack of Ingenuity...LOL!

China’s Concept for a Martian Helicopter Seems Awfully Familiar

Well, imitation is supposedly the greatest form of flattery.

gizmodo.com

A prototype of China’s Mars cruise drone. Image: CNNSC

China’s National Space Science Center is working on an aerial drone that bears a striking resemblance to NASA’ Ingenuity helicopter, currently on Mars. It’s got four outstretched wiry legs, two rotors stacked atop each other, and a simplified fuselage. It’s China’s take on NASA’s wildly successful aerial drone.



A press release from China’s National Space Science Center suggests the vehicle, called the “Mars cruise drone,” has passed acceptance and will presumably advance to the next stage of development. Eventually, the Chinese aerial drone could make it to Mars, where it will patrol the landscape and further China’s exploration of the Red Planet. To that end, the Mars cruise drone will be equipped with a spectrometer for performing aerial surveys and for studying the Martian geology.

Andrew Jones from SpaceNews had the best take on this unabashed attempt to clone NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter. “The fun way to put it would be that it is the opposite of ‘Ingenuity,’” as he wrote on Twitter. A very good, albeit obvious, burn.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1433111960447455235

For sure, it’s a blatant copy of NASA’s design, but there’s no mistaking China’s intentions in space. The country is making rapid progress, and it’s quickly catching up to the other major players in space exploration.

China has sent rovers to the Moon and Mars, and it’s currently building its own space station, called Tiangong (“Heavenly Palace”). More ambitiously, China hopes to send a crewed mission to Mars in 2033 and even build an “ultra-large spacecraft” that would extend for miles (yep, you read that right).

China, of course, is not the only copycat when it comes to space. The Soviets had their own Space Shuttle (known as Buran, but it never flew to space), and Russia recently disclosed its design for a reusable rocket, which looked exactly like SpaceX’s Falcon 9.

Hey, if you can’t beat ‘em, you must sometimes join ‘em. Maybe in future NASA might copy a Chinese or Russian design, but only time will tell.

 

[applesauce]

gotta start somewhere. nothing wrong with trying to make your own helicopter for mars after nasa made theirs and flew it. if you cant make something after someone else as made it then we would all still be stuck on at the stone ages.
plus china is now working/planning on kilometer scale space projects and space based power stations, wonder if these same people will make fun of the US when nasa eventually does the same.

also buran was not at all a copy of the shuttle, it was larger and in many ways more advance, it just turns out that similar requirements means you end up with similar products. also it did make it to space, it completed two orbit autonomously

 

[Beast]

Seems like another don't know Chinese but simply making a fool of himself. This is just a verification prototype for aerodaynamic. Nothing to suggest they are going to be the one send to Mars.

Do Zhurong looks like any of US mars rover?

gotta start somewhere. nothing wrong with trying to make your own helicopter for mars after nasa made theirs and flew it. if you cant make something after someone else as made it then we would all still be stuck on at the stone ages.
plus china is now working/planning on kilometer scale space projects and space based power stations, wonder if these same people will make fun of the US when nasa eventually does the same.

also buran was not at all a copy of the shuttle, it was larger and in many ways more advance, it just turns out that similar requirements means you end up with similar products. also it did make it to space, it completed two orbit autonomously

原理样机. Just a concept prototype to verify certain aerodynamic. Of cos they need to copy a proven concept to build a better one send to Mars.

 

[SQ8]

While it may seem easy to mAke fun of the Chinese copying approach - it has helped them make large gains by sticking to known formulae

 

[Beast]

While it may seem easy to mAke fun of the Chinese copying approach - it has helped them make large gains by sticking to known formulae

Those days are over. China is now innovating. Days of copy others are over. I will not be surprised US also copy a J-20 plane to better understand adversary.

 

[Goritoes]

They are progressing and that's what matters, plus anyone who is exploring space must be appreciated, copy or not still the world major Powers needs to work together on this, space is extremely interesting and the more we know the better

 

[K_Bin_W]

Those days are over. China is now innovating. Days of copy others are over. I will not be surprised US also copy a J-20 plane to better understand adversary.

You don't know how much US copy and cheat. SO long they control the media.. you get the gist.

 

[kankan326]

Lack of Ingenuity...LOL!

Mars helicopter must have below features:
1,It has rotating wings like normal helicopters;
2, It carries camera and other necessary facilities;
3, It must be as light as possible, as compact as possible for saving delivery cost from earth to Mars.

There is no much choice for design to achieve above requests. Even US never made Mars helicopter, China would also make similar prototype

 

[MH.Yang]

Indians can redesign the wheels and let me see if they can get rid of the round design.

 

[Thorough Pro]

Besides their are severe limitations to what they can design that works in a very hostile and thin environment on the Mars, other wise Chinese are the masters of creating small drones in the world.

While it may seem easy to mAke fun of the Chinese copying approach - it has helped them make large gains by sticking to known formulae

 

[Beast]

Besides their are severe limitations to what they can design that works in a very hostile and thin environment on the Mars, other wise Chinese are the masters of creating small drones in the world.

The next rocket send to Mars by China will be much larger and higher payload. Remember LM-5 rocket has higher payload compare to Altas used for US mars mission. We are not that constraint by such limit. The next copter to land on Mars definitely will fly faster, further and more meaningful payload.

 

[Sineva]

The Soviets had their own Space Shuttle (known as Buran, but it never flew to space),

Just a small correction:
Buran did fly,only once and without a crew,but it did have the distinction of being the first unmanned shuttle flight with a fully automated landing.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Do Zhurong looks like any of US mars rover?

Actually it does look like an older rover of ours

 

[Globenim]

Not just did China steal the propeller which ingenious Americans invented in 2020, China even stole the shape of rocket barrels and wheels invented by ingenious Americans in 1997, it doesnt stop the Chinese also copied the so called antenna and camera objective which America invented in 2020

 

[aziqbal]

Those days are over. China is now innovating. Days of copy others are over. I will not be surprised US also copy a J-20 plane to better understand adversary.

what like Z20?