Nighthawk: Rationale For A Mars Chopper Class Rotorcraft To Explore Noctis Labyrinthus
Summary: Nighthawk is a concept for a NASA Mars Chopper mission to explore Eastern Noctis Labyrinthus. The region presents extreme terrain ideally traversed by rotorcraft. Although Ingenuity would not be able to meet mission objectives, the future Mars Chopper will.
Introduction: Nighthawk is a concept for a NASA Mars Chopper mission to explore Eastern Noctis Labyrinthus (ENL), in particular its ancient giant volcano, recent lava flow, canyons, glacier remains, H2O evolution, mineral deposits, potential for life, and suitability for human landing and exploration [1].
Noctis Labyrinthus – Latin for Labyrinth of the Night – is a mysterious, maze-like network of canyons located in a geologically pivotal region of Mars: the transition between the monumental canyon system of Valles Marineris to the East and the giant volcano province of Tharsis to the West. In ENL, a location referred to as ‘Noctis Landing’ has been proposed as a potential landing site and exploration zone (LS/EZ) for future human missions to the surface of Mars [2,3].
The region has become an area of even greater exploration value with the recent realization that ENL is an ancient, deeply eroded giant volcano, Noctis Volcano, with massive amounts of glacier ice likely still present at shallow depth near the volcano’s base [4-9].
Nighthawk Mars Chopper Mission Map. Example Nighthawk mission flight path and targets, with ceiling limited to +1.5 km. Areas above ceiling shown in gray. The primary mission (continuous path) and an eventual extended mission (dashed) are shown.
The region presents many science areas of interest accessible via wheeled rover, but also areas of extreme terrain, including large dune fields, rugged lava flows, potentially crumbly pyroclastic deposits and salt crusts, boulder landslides, and steep canyon slopes, more efficiently hopped or flown over than tackled or circumvented by rover.
The vast spatial scale of the region to be explored (~100+ km across) would also be difficult to traverse by rover in a reasonable amount of time, but achievable for a flyer. Nighthawk’s science scouting mission would be, in practice, better implemented by robotic rotorcraft, now a mature flying technology for Mars exploration, than by robotic rover.
A key advantage of a rotorcraft is its ability to soft-land even on small, isolated safe spots. However, Noctis Labyrinthus is canyon country, with terrain elevations ranging from -1 km to +9 km, significantly higher than the -2.6 km where Ingenuity flew at Jezero Crater.
- Nighthawk: Rationale For A Mars Chopper Class Rotorcraft To Explore Noctis Labyrinthus, abstract, LPSC2025
- What NASA’s Next Mars Helicopter May Look Like, Astrobiology.com
- Mars helicopter posts, Astrobiology.com
