According to this artist’s concept, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter is on the surface of the red planet as the Perseverance rover (partly visible on the left) takes off. Image via NASA / JPL-Caltech.
NASA has once again pushed back the flight date of the Mars helicopter, called Ingenuity. According to the agency’s most recent status update, released on April 12, 2021, the first experimental helicopter flight (initially scheduled for April 11) will be rescheduled for next week, at the earliest. Before the flight passes, NASA must reinstall the software to fix a problem that arose when engineers tried to change the helicopter. pre-vol a flight mode. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, the facility that manages the helicopter’s activity, is currently reviewing software updates. NASA set out four steps the team must follow before scheduling a new flight date:
• Diagnose the problem and develop possible solutions
• Develop / validate and load software
• Load the flight software into the flight controllers
• Boot wit in new flight software
Additional information is available from NASA.
As for exactly when it will stick to Mars’ ingenuity, NASA said:
Our best estimate of a target flight date is fluid right now, but we are working to achieve these milestones and will set a flight date next week.
The craft arrived on Mars on February 18 along with the rover Perseverance, after making the long hike to the red planet tucked inside the rover’s belly. The small helicopter has broken away from Perseverance and is now preparing to take to the skies during a month-long test campaign. NASA will broadcast the output live, which viewers can watch via NASA TV.
If the Ingenuity flight is successful, it will be the first motorized and guided flight from another planet. They are expected to follow a handful of other test flights during a month-long campaign aimed at proving that aerial exploration is feasible in the thin atmosphere of Mars. JPL wrote to tweet published in the early hours of April 8:
“Mental bottleneck, right?”
Glory blades, also known as rotor blades #MarsHelicopter, have been unlocked and are ready to test them. We will then make a slow rotation of the leaves for the first time on the Martian surface. https://t.co/TNCdXWcKWE pic.twitter.com/ZUTHRGFGia– NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) April 8, 2021
The process of preparing the flight of ingenuity has been slow and prudent, in part because the 1.8-pound (4-pound) helicopter made the trip to Mars in a folded configuration. He got inside the rover’s body behind a protective shield. But after the rover dropped that shield and drove to the airfield, helicopter personnel ordered the device to unpack and deploy slowly. Perseverance then had to establish ingenuity directly on the Martian surface and move away, allowing the helicopter’s solar panels to begin supporting the plane.
Unlocking and testing the Ingenuity blades marked the last major preparation milestones before the helicopter attempted to fly. NASA officials have said they will test the blades first at 50 and then at 2,400 rpm before the helicopter tries to fly.
If the device is successful, future missions to the red planet could include helicopters, which could serve as rover explorers and collect data on their own, NASA officials have reported. The ingenuity will not collect any data, as the small rotorcraft does not carry any scientific instrument. But it will document your flights with a high-resolution camera. And perseverance will also be watching from a safe distance. There is even a possibility that the rover could record audio from Ingenenuity flights using its two microphones on board, NASA officials have reported.
Meanwhile, while Ingenuity prepares the flights, Perseverance looks around and sends pictures. Among other activities, the car-sized rover has been taking pictures of its own tire tracks and its sophisticated scientific arm.
A magnificent new photographic mosaic (below) shows NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter. Community scientist Seán Doran created it by combining 62 photos taken by the rover. Doran posted via his Twitter account, @_TheSeaning. He said he put the constituent images through a “noise, repair and exclusive process” before combining them: a process he describes as “laborious”. The reward is seen below.
Until we meet again@NASAPersevere pic.twitter.com/1daQFZoifi
– Seán Doran (@_TheSeaning) April 7, 2021
The wit also took its first color photograph on April 3, shortly after being lowered into Martian dirt by the Perseverance rover. The image shows the ground of the 45-kilometer-wide Jezero crater on Mars and a two-wheeled portion of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. Doran told Space.com:
Focusing on the connection between Percy and Ginny was an obvious choice for this composition. It’s very exciting to see new photos from another planet, but this one is very special and I hope the tech show is a huge success.
This low-resolution view of the ground from Mars’ Jezero crater and a two-wheeled portion of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover was captured by the agency’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter on April 3, 2021. It’s the first photo in color made by Ingenuity on the Martian surface. . Image via NASA / JPL-Caltech.
Once the work of Ingenuity is done, Perseverance will begin the main goals of its own scientific mission. The six-wheeled robot will look for signs of ancient life on Mars and collect and store dozens of samples for its future return to Earth.
NASA chose the Jezero crater as the landing site for the Perseverance rover with good reason. Scientists believe the area was flooded and housed an ancient water river delta more than 3.5 billion years ago. The river channels spilled over the crater wall and created a lake, which transported clay minerals from its surroundings. Microbial life could have lived in the crater during one or more of these wet periods, and if so, signs of its remains could be found in the sediments of the lake or shoreline. Scientists will study how the region formed and evolved, look for signs of past life, and collect samples of rock and Mars soil that can preserve these signs.
In a nutshell: The need to update the software delayed the first flight of Ingenuity, a helicopter that will explore Mars. On April 12, 2021, NASA said the spacecraft could fly next week, and when it does, it will be the first guided, motorized flight from another planet. NASA will broadcast the event live.
Read more on EarthSky: Touchdown. Perseverance successfully lands on Mars
Through Space.com
