Low Reynolds Number Aerodynamic Characteristics of Several Airplane Configurations Designed to Fly in the Mars Atmosphere at Subsonic Speeds

A ¼-scale wind tunnel model of an airplane configuration developed for short duration flight at subsonic speeds in the Martian atmosphere has been tested in the Langley Research Center Transonic Dynamics Tunnel. The tunnel was pumped down to extremely low pressures to represent Martian Mach/Reynolds number conditions. Aerodynamic data were obtained and upper and lower surface wind pressures were measured at one spanwise station on some configurations. Three unswept wings of the same planform but different airfoil sections were tested. Horizontal tail incidence was varied as was the deflection of plain and split trailing-edge flaps. One unswept wing configuration was tested with the lower part of the fuselage removed and the vertical/horizontal tail assembly inverted and mounted from beneath the fuselage. A sweptback wing was also tested. Tests were conducted at Mach numbers from 0.50 to 0.90. Wing chord Reynolds number was varied from 40,000 to 100,000 and angles of attack and sideslip were varied from -10deg to 20deg and -10deg to 10deg, respectively.