Swiss scientists bid to fly plane on Mars

Posted by tourdemars to Airplane at January 28, 2004 12:00 PM

Scientists in Switzerland are developing an ultra-lightweight plane which could soar through the skies of Mars in about a decade's time, with the help of balsa wood and model aircraft knowhow. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) chose the small solar-powered, "intelligent", glider as a low-cost but high technology project for the European Space Agency's (ESA) "Startiger III" technology programme, scientist Samir Bouabdallah said Wednesday.