FYBR Solutions Inc., formerly Spire Aerobotics Inc., is an industry leading end-to-end provider of high-resolution geospatial data and advanced data analytics. The Vancouver-based company specializes in forestry applications, but also has unique experience in the operation of drones in extreme environments on Earth, specifically in polar regions, including on Devon Island.
“We’re proud to join the HMP’s team of industry partners, and excited to help make continued advances in drone technologies and remote sensing, not just on our planet, but on Mars and beyond,” says Patrick Crawford, Co-Founder and CEO of FYBR.
Although Mars has a thin atmosphere, with an average surface pressure of 10 millibars, equivalent to that found in the Earth’s stratosphere at an altitude of approximately 100,000 feet (30 km), flight is possible, including with rotorcraft. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is currently considering a robotic helicopter scout system for NASA’s upcoming Mars 2020 mission, and NASA’s Langley Research Center is developing a Mars Electric Reusable Flyer.
“Rotorcraft are a great way to explore Mars,” says Lee, who co-authored early NASA research studies on Mars rotorcraft and is a FAA-certified helicopter flight instructor and drone pilot. “On the HMP, we’re putting drones through practical field tests of the many applications we envision for them on Mars.”
UAVs on Mars may be used as robotic explorers, just like robotic rovers are today, but over much greater ranges and with fewer terrain obstacles to tackle. In relation to human and other robotic exploration, drones may serve as scouts, context imagers, aerial mappers, remote-sensors, search & rescue and go-fetch assistants, cave and lava tube explorers, crater and canyon wall surveyors, habitat and vehicle inspectors, aseptic samplers, sample cachers and retrievers, and more.
Welcome to drone day on the Adafruit blog. Every Monday we deliver the latest news, products and more from the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), quadcopter and drone communities. Drones can be used for video & photography (dronies), civil applications, policing, farming, firefighting, military and non-military security work, such as surveillance of pipelines. Previous posts can be found via the #drone tag and our drone / UAV categories.
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