The Ingenuity helicopter, folded and docked at the Rover Perseverance, on Mars. Photo: NASA / JPL-Caltech.
The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration, (NASA, by its acronyms in English: American Space Agency) He has revealed the first image of his helicopter Wit on Mars, which will become the first to fly on this planet.
Transported by the Rover Perseverance, To drop its cover Thus began the process to release the device. On this particular, the account of this mission on Twitter announced the important step: “The rubble shield is gone and here is our first look at the helicopter,” the mission’s official Twitter account posted Perseverance this Sunday. And he delineated that the same “is stored sideways, folded and locked in place, so you need to do some reverse origami,” prior to touching the ground.
A NASA video details the process of deploying the Wit: From the fall of the cover, it will be repositioned then and it follows the extension to him of all legs before being released.
The weight on Mars of this aircraft is about 680 grams, which reached 1.8 kilos on Earth. The height, meanwhile, is 49 centimeters.
Six lithium ion batteries, Loaded through a solar array installed at the top of the rotor, propel the helicopter. It also owns two cameras: one in black and white for navigation, and another in color focused on the terrain.
What will be the duration of the test flight program? According to plan, it should take 30 Martian days, or 31 on our planet.
(With information from RT in Catalan)