Dynamics and control of a paraglider for planetary exploration

Paragliders represent a light, low cost, space efficient means for autonomous transportation. They can be used for accurate delivering of payloads using inexpensive guidance and control modules. If equipped with proper sensor, it is possible to use paragliders for scientific observation during flight, such as chemical, thermal, meteorological, or biological analyses of the atmosphere. Aerial remote sensing of the surface can also be carried out, obtaining high-resolution imaging, measurements of seismic activity, and more generally collecting data on dangerous or inaccessible areas. Since they are inexpensive, light and versatile, they are interesting for planetary exploration, in particular if Mars, Venus, Titan and the Outer Planets are considered because of their atmosphere. The aim of the paper is to have a preliminary study of the behavior of a paraglider flying through the atmosphere of a planet. A scalability analysis to compare performance with results obtained when flying over Earth will be carried out, highlighting that at steady state all coordinates but the norm of velocity reach the same equilibrium point. A ratio between the velocity over the planet and over Earth will be derived as function of the gravitational acceleration and the atmosphere density. Finally, the performance of a line following algorithm developed in a previous work will be evaluated through simulations on Mars.