2026

Vasilkov N.D., Ivanov N.S., Karpovich E.A. Design algorithm for a Power System of a Tiltrotor Air Taxi. Bulletin of the Moscow Aviation Institute. – 2026. – Vol. 33, No. 2. – pp. 152-164. – ISSN 0869-6101.

The paper presents an algorithm for the design of power systems of various configurations for a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft—a tiltrotor air taxi with a takeoff weight of 2500 kg, capable of flying a range of up to 600 km at a speed of 500 km/h. Five different power plant configurations are considered, including an electric one with a hydrogen fuel cell energy unit, as well as parallel and series hybrid power plant configurations based on one or two gas turbine engines.

2025

Karpovich, E. A., Zanegin, S. Yu. Low-Speed Open-Type Wind Tunnel with a Large
Diffuser Divergence Angle for Propeller Testing // Vestnik of the Moscow Aviation
Institute. 2025. Vol. 32, No. 4. P. 31-41.

This article outlines the design of a compact open-circuit wind tunnel, featuring a centrifugal blower and a wide-angle diffuser, specifically intended for propeller testing. The wind tunnel is capable of
accommodating propellers up to 20 inches (0.508 m) in diameter and achieving a maximum test-section velocity of 20 m/s (72 km/h). It operates using aa15 kW motor that drives the blower at 960 RPM.

2024

In this article,

Elena Karpovich; Timur Kombaev; Djahid Gueraiche; Dmitriy Strelets. Rocket-based versus solar wing-tail Martian UAVs: design, analysis, and trade studies. Aerospace Systems 2024, https://doi.org/10.1007/s42401-023-00267-w

Karpovich, E. A., Kombaev, T. Sh., Forster, E. B. What Might the First Winged Explorer
the Red Planet Be Like? // Zemlya i Vselennaya (Earth and Universe). 2024. No. 1. P. 56-
69. DOI: 10.7868/50044394824010055

- you will get an insight into the conditions in which the Martian drone will fly,
- you will learn about the history of Mars exploration using unmanned spacecraft, as well as ...
... possible scientific tasks for the Martian aircraft, and also ...
... how our aircraft may be delivered to Mars.
In the paper, we will share with you what is special about design and analysis of such an unconventional airborne vehicle, ...
... what it might look like and why, and -
how well it will fly?
Sounds interesting?
Please download our paper and enjoy!
Please note, currently, it is only available in Russian

This is an article in the popular science magazine "Earth and the Universe", written at the request of the editors of the magazine after our presentation at the Solar System Symposium at the Space Research Institute in Moscow, October 2023.
We feel especially happy to have published an article in such a wonderful magazine intended for a wide audience. In this article, we collected all themost interesting things about our aircraft that we knew at that time, and tried to present the results of our work in understandable language. And also - to share our enthusiasm with the readers of the magazine!

Karpovich, E. A. Combaev, T. Sh. Design Concept and Characteristics of an Unmanned Vertical Take Off and Landing(VTOL) Aircraft for Mars Exploration//Vestnik of S. A. Lavochkin Research and Production Association. 2025. No. 1. P. 67.

In this paper, the design of a solar aircraft for Mars exploration is discussed. For the design and analysis, MATLAB, Xopfoil, and XFOIL were employed. We used the Mars Climate Database as a source of Martian atmospheric data. In this study, we considered the aircraft a secondary payload so that its span was limited to one meter and fixed.
The results of the study are presented in the form of general aircraft specifications, flight profiles for three missions, the optimized airfoil, as well as data on the probe's equipment and systems.
The final version of the aircraft layout is a tailsitter boxplane, with no fuselage and empennage, no control surfaces, and a solar-based electric distributed propulsion system providing thrust, control, and balance. The aircraft's mass is 6.3 kg, including a 0.8 kg payload and a 1.5 kg battery; its cruise speed is 49 m/s, corresponding to a Reynolds number of 8e+04 and a Mach number of 0.37; its cruise lift-to-drag ratio reaches 4.

2023

Karpovich, E., Gueraiche, D., A Solar Wing-Tail Martian Science UAV: Design Space Exploration.
Russian Aeronautics, 2023, Vol. 66, No. 1, pp. 1-8. DOI: 10.3103/S1068799823010014

Karpovich, E.; Kombaev, T. Gueraiche, D.; Evdokimova, D., Alexandrov, K.
Long-Endurance Mars Exploration Flying Vehicle: A Project Brief.
Aerospace 2023, 10, 965. https://doi.org/10.3390/ aerospace10110965

Earlier articles

Karpovich, E. A., Gueresh, D., Khan, V., Tolkachev, M. A. Concepts of an Unmanned Aircraft for Mars Exploration // Vestnik of
the Moscow Aviation Institute. 2022. Vol. 29, No. 4. P. 104-115.

Djahid, G.; Elena, K.; Maxim, P.; Alexander, K.; Popov, S.; Sinha M. Experimental and CFD Investigation of Directional Stability
of a Box-Wing Aircraft Concept. Fluids 2022,7, 340. https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids7110340 (WOS/Scopus)
Karpovich, E., Gueraiche, D. & Korotkov, D. A method for conceptual design of a light boxplane. AS 5, 349-356 (2022). https: //
doi.org/10.1007/s42401-022-00147-9

Karpovich, E.A., Kochurova, N.I. & Kuznetsov, A.V. Earacteristics of a Boxplane Wind-
Tunnel Model. Russ. Aeronaut. 63, 659-668 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3103/S1068799820040133

Elena Karpovich, Gueraiche Djahid, Sergeeva Natalya, and Kuznetsov Alexander. 2021. "Investigation of a Light Boxplane
Model Using Tuft Flow Visualization and CFD" Fluids 6, no. 12: 451. https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids6120451