Few PhD students can lay claim to helping establish if there is life on Mars, but Lidia Caros Roca may be the exception that proves the rule.
Thanks to her invention of a virtual wind tunnel simulator that recreates Mars’s atmospheric conditions, the Imperial College London doctoral student has paved the way for the creation of helicopters even better optimised for Martian exploration than Nasa’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter which successfully landed on the red planet last year.
By comparing her simulation results with those from the real-life Mars Wind Tunnel in Tohoku University, Japan, she found they recreated Mars's atmosphere with a much higher degree of accuracy than had previously been possible.
The outcome is that helicopters can now be engineered to fly longer distances at higher altitudes with heavier payloads in Martian conditions — “the equivalent of getting a dragonfly and an insect flying at the same speed as an Airbus or a Boeing”, Ms Roca told The National.
“Our simulator will help to design fundamentally new blades that will perform efficiently on Mars,” she said.
“The aim was to get the same results in simulations as in the experiments in a particular Martian wind tunnel here on Earth.
“We kept adding physics into the simulations to get the same result as in the experiments and all that is useful to prove that our simulations can simulate Martian conditions, and now they can be used for designing new blades for Mars helicopters.”
Air conditioning
Though they are considered planetary siblings, the atmospheres of Earth and Mars are radically different, with the red planet's atmosphere about 100 times thinner than ours.
This presents scientists with unique challenges in designing helicopters that can generate enough lift to take off in “air” that is less dense and with higher wind speeds.
“The Martian atmosphere has a very low density — the air is as thin as the Earth’s atmosphere at very high altitudes,” said Ms Roca.
“Conventional blades have benefited from over 100 years of aeronautical design experience. However, the low density and low speed of sound on Mars presents a flight regime unlike anything encountered on Earth, making such blades inefficient for Martian flight.”
This unusual combination means that simple modelling strategies do not yield accurate results. Instead, Ms Roca and her Imperial team used their own, in-house high-fidelity solver called PyFR to directly simulate the governing equations of motion on Mars.
They ran the simulations on some of the world’s largest supercomputers, including EPCC’s Cirrus in Edinburgh and Piz Daint at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre, using graphics cards initially designed for use in computer gaming to make such complex simulations possible.
Where angles fear to tread
Previous attempts to simulate the experiments at Tohoku University were less successful when the blades were mounted at a high angle-of-attack, which refers to the angle between the blade and the oncoming flow.
Ms Roca's research team gradually increased the realism of their simulations and showed that only when the full span of the blade plus the wind tunnel walls were fully simulated did the results come close to the Tohoku experiments.
Further, their simulations were able to predict a key change in the behaviour of the blade with angle-of-attack. At a particular incidence, the lift mechanism of the blade changes suddenly with the formation of a large vortex that acts to “suck” on the top surface of the blade, increasing its lift.
The next step for the researchers will be to use their simulator to test specific aerofoil shapes. Dr Roca’s colleague, Dr Oliver Buxton, told The National a deal has been struck with a certain US space exploration agency but was unable to reveal any more details.
And it may not only be aerospace companies interested in the Mars-proof rotor blades: the miniature blades can also be used for applications in Earth's more benign atmosphere. Given its need for covert surveillance, the defence industry will certainly be an interested party.
“There's lots of micro drones that are used for all sorts of things like deliveries,” said Dr Buxton. “For example, you put cameras on them to inspect systems like pylons or buildings or bridges.”
It all goes to show that good things really do come in small packages.
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Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
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MATCH INFO
Qalandars 112-4 (10 ovs)
Banton 53 no
Northern Warriors 46 all out (9 ovs)
Kumara 3-10, Garton 3-10, Jordan 2-2, Prasanna 2-7
Qalandars win by six wickets
The specs: 2017 Maserati Quattroporte
Price, base / as tested Dh389,000 / Dh559,000
Engine 3.0L twin-turbo V8
Transmission Eight-speed automatic
Power 530hp @ 6,800rpm
Torque 650Nm @ 2,000 rpm
Fuel economy, combined 10.7L / 100km
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 720hp
Torque: 770Nm
Price: Dh1,100,000
On sale: now
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LIVING IN...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Watch live
The National will broadcast live from the IMF on Friday October 13 at 7pm UAE time (3pm GMT) as our Editor-in-Chief Mina Al-Oraibi moderates a panel on how technology can help growth in MENA.
You can find out more here
Play-off fixtures
Two-legged ties to be played November 9-11 and November 12-14
- Northern Ireland v Switzerland
- Croatia v Greece
- Denmark v Ireland
- Sweden v Italy
Abandon
Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
Translated by Arunava Sinha
Tilted Axis Press
The specs: 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio
Price, base: Dh198,300
Engine: 2.0L in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 280hp @ 5,250rpm
Torque: 400Nm @ 2,250rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7L / 100km
Reputation
Taylor Swift
(Big Machine Records)
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
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'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'
Director:Michael Lehmann
Stars:Kristen Bell
Rating: 1/5
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
Most match wins on clay
Guillermo Vilas - 659
Manuel Orantes - 501
Thomas Muster - 422
Rafael Nadal - 399 *
Jose Higueras - 378
Eddie Dibbs - 370
Ilie Nastase - 338
Carlos Moya - 337
Ivan Lendl - 329
Andres Gomez - 322
The%20specs%20
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The specs: 2018 Range Rover Velar R-Dynamic HSE
Price, base / as tested: Dh263,235 / Dh420,000
Engine: 3.0-litre supercharged V6
Power 375hp @ 6,500rpm
Torque: 450Nm @ 3,500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 9.4L / 100kms
The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein The Far East, Palestine, and Spain, 1922 – 1923
Editor Ze’ev Rosenkranz
Princeton
Sreesanth's India bowling career
Tests 27, Wickets 87, Average 37.59, Best 5-40
ODIs 53, Wickets 75, Average 33.44, Best 6-55
T20Is 10, Wickets 7, Average 41.14, Best 2-12
Ready Player One
Dir: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance
RACECARD
6pm Emaar Dubai Sprint – Conditions (TB) $60,000 (Turf) 1,200m
6.35pm Graduate Stakes – Conditions (TB) $100,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
7.10pm Al Khail Trophy – Listed (TB) $100,000 (T) 2,810m
7.45pm UAE 1000 Guineas – Listed (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,600m
8.20pm Zabeel Turf – Listed (TB) $100,000 (T) 2,000m
8.55pm Downtown Dubai Cup – Rated Conditions (TB) $80,000 (D) 1,400m
9.30pm Zabeel Mile – Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,600m
10.05pm Dubai Sprint – Listed (TB) $100,000 (T) 1,200m
'The Sky is Everywhere'
Director:Josephine Decker
Stars:Grace Kaufman, Pico Alexander, Jacques Colimon
Rating:2/5
Cricket World Cup League 2 Fixtures
Saturday March 5, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy (all matches start at 9.30am)
Sunday March 6, Oman v Namibia, ICC Academy
Tuesday March 8, UAE v Namibia, ICC Academy
Wednesday March 9, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy
Friday March 11, Oman v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Saturday March 12, UAE v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri, Muhammad Waseem, CP Rizwan, Vriitya Aravind, Asif Khan, Basil Hameed, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Karthik Meiyappan, Akif Raja, Rahul Bhatia
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
