The funded project, ExtrA – Extraterrestrial Aerodynamics: Flight Beyond Earth, aims to lay the foundations for extraterrestrial aerodynamics, a new research field devoted to understanding flight in the atmospheres of planetary bodies. Led by Professor Alberto Guardone and carried out by a multidisciplinary team of researchers at DAER, ExtrA addresses one of the key challenges of future planetary exploration. NASA's successful Ingenuity helicopter mission on Mars demonstrated that powered flight is possible beyond Earth. The next challenge is to design aircraft capable of covering greater distances and operating for longer periods in environments very different from terrestrial ones.
To achieve this goal, ExtrA will investigate the aerodynamic behavior of wings, propellers, drones and aerial probes operating in the atmospheres of Mars, Venus and Titan, each characterized by unique physical properties. The project will combine high-fidelity numerical simulations with experimental testing in wind tunnels specifically designed to reproduce extraterrestrial atmospheric conditions. These unique research facilities, developed within DAER, will host the project's experimental campaigns.
The research will examine aircraft aerodynamics under extreme conditions, from the thin, cold atmosphere of Mars to the dense, high-pressure environment of Venus, including Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The findings will support the development of a new generation of vehicles for planetary exploration while providing fundamental insights into aerodynamic phenomena beyond Earth, with potential applications to the study of planets outside our Solar System.
ExtrA will be carried out in collaboration with Professor Teemu Turunen-Saaresti's Fluid Dynamics research group at LUT University (Finland), with the contribution of researcher Dr. Marta Zocca, further strengthening DAER's international research network.
