Integrated helicopter and deployment enclosure for planetary exploration

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments describe an integrated aerial exploration system for deployment on a planetary surface, the system including: a rotorcraft configured for flight in a low-density atmosphere and adapted to carry a scientific payload; an enclosure housing the rotorcraft during launch, transit, and landing, the enclosure including a mounting interface for attachment to a host vehicle and a cover movable to provide an opening for deployment of the rotorcraft; and a deployment mechanism configured, upon activation, to move the rotorcraft from within the enclosure to a position outside the enclosure through said opening; where activation of the deployment mechanism automatically releases the rotorcraft from the enclosure and deploys one or more stowed components of the rotorcraft into a flight-ready configuration for aerial operation.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.