  Many unconventional descent mechanisms are evolved in nature to maximize the
dispersion of seeds to increase the population of floral species. The induced
autorotation produces lift through asymmetrical weight distribution, increasing
the fall duration and giving the seed extra time to get drifted away by the
wind. The proposed bio-inspired concept was used to produce novel modern pods
for various aerospace applications that require free-falling or controlled
velocity descent in planetary or interplanetary missions without relying on
traditional techniques such as propulsion-based descent and the use of
parachutes. We provide an explanation for the design procedure and the
functioning of a mono blade auto-rotating wing. An element-based computational
method based on Glauert's blade element momentum theory (BEMT) model was
employed to estimate the geometry by maximizing the coefficient of power
through MATLAB's optimization toolbox using the Sequential quadratic
programming (SQP) solver. The dynamic model was developed for the single-wing
design through the MATLAB Simulink 6-DOF toolbox to carry out a free-flight
simulation of the wing to verify its global stability.
