The paper presents specifications for the Long-Endurance Mars Exploration Flying Vehicle (LEMFEV), which will be used as future design input data. The specifications are based on the analysis of previous Mars missions and scientific data collected by the operating Martian probes. The design specifications include the requirements related to the airplane’s delivery to the Martian surface; the requirements related to the Martian conditions (atmosphere and climate); and the requirements related to the scientific payload parameters and the mission flight profile.

In this paper, we addressed the flow patterns over a light boxplane scale model to explain the previously discovered disagreement between its predicted and experimental aerodynamic characteristics. By tuft flow and CFD visualization, we explored the causes yielding a large zero lift pitching moment coefficient, lateral divergence, difference in fore and aft elevator lift, and poor high lift performance of the aircraft. The investigation revealed that the discrepancy in the pitching moment coefficient and lateral stability derivatives can be attributed to insufficient accuracy of the used predictive methods. The difference in fore and aft elevator lift and poor high lift performance of the aircraft may occur due to the low local Reynolds number, which causes the early flow separation over the elevators and flaperons when deflected downward at angles exceeding 10°. Additionally, some airframe changes are suggested to alleviate the lateral divergence of the model.

Presented is an analytic study of aerodynamic loading along a high aspect ratio wing, typical for airliners, under passive aeroelastic deformation. Such a highly non-planar, curved wing is feasible using the latest composite material technology, and is expected to enhance airliners aerodynamic performance at transonic cruise conditions, given it allows lower induced drag, similar to a wingletted wing. Also, gust and manoeuvring loads can be partially alleviated by the structure elasticity, hence the concept is of great interest for the airliner industry. A major problem to designing highly flexible wings is their constantly shifting shape and, as a result, their hardly predictable, non-constant lift force generated. This paper provides an attempt to precisely estimate load distribution along the statically inflected wing at different stages of its deformation, using mathematical parametrization of the curved wing shape to relate its geometry to aerodynamic loading and structural stiffness in a closed form function. This is achieved using the geometric dependency of local angles of attack on local wing curvatures, therefore load distribution is a function of the parametrized deformed wing shape. Spanwise load distributions in turn can be coupled with structural stiffness distributions using cantilever beam theory.