Matthew Kelly
The Mars Torus is a craft that uses a contained vacuum to create lift in the Martian atmosphere using a large structure that is lightweight, yet strong. The use of a vacuum means that no extra gas is required for lift, unlike in the case of a helium balloon that would need its supply of helium to be replenished if the craft’s height needed to be decreased and increased again. The Torus uses propellers to achieve forward momentum only (not for lift). The payload can be any scientific instrument for analysing the atmosphere or a camera for creating HD imagery of the Martian surface. The Torus will use solar power to recharge its batteries and supply power to the propellers and vacuum pump.
Along with GNSS for navigation, the Mars payload includes six CubeSats that will be used for the Torus’ communication back to Earth.
