Quadcopter Flights in a Variety of Atmospheres

Quadcopters, or drones, have come into wide use recently for a variety of applications including video inspection of otherwise inaccessible areas, real estate sales, and entertainment. Students are interested in them and in some cases own their own. The combination of high mobility, relatively low price, and autonomous operation is quite compelling. Besides just flying around on Earth, could drones be useful in planetary exploration? Being able to avoid getting stuck (as the Mars rover Spirit did, although after far exceeding its life expectancy) while covering far more of a planet than a ground-based rover would be attractive.Quadcopters, or drones, have come into wide use recently for a variety of applications including video inspection of otherwise inaccessible areas, real estate sales, and entertainment. Students are interested in them and in some cases own their own. The combination of high mobility, relatively low price, and autonomous operation is quite compelling. Besides just flying around on Earth, could drones be useful in planetary exploration? Being able to avoid getting stuck (as the Mars rover Spirit did, although after far exceeding its life expectancy) while covering far more of a planet than a ground-based rover would be attractive.