If Ingenuity succeeds, future Mars exploration could include an ambitious aerial dimension.Ī Mars Rover and a Mars Flyer (Artist's Concept): When NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter attempts its first test flight on the Red Planet, the agency's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover will be close by, as seen in this artist's concept. If the helicopter succeeds in that first flight, the Ingenuity team will attempt up to four other test flights within a 30-Martian-day (31-Earth-day) window.Ħ. Autonomously charging itself with its solar panelĪnd then Ingenuity will make its first flight attempt. Autonomously keeping warm through the intensely cold Martian nights.Safely deploying to the surface from Perseverance's belly.Surviving the launch from Cape Canaveral, the cruise to Mars, and landing on the Red Planet.The team will celebrate each time they meet one. Given the firsts Ingenuity is trying to accomplish, the team has a long list of milestones they'll need to pass before the helicopter can take off and land in the spring of 2021. The Ingenuity team will count success one step at a time. Failing any one of these milestones would've grounded the experiment.ĥ. In January 2019, the actual helicopter that is riding with Perseverance to the Red Planet passed its final flight evaluation. They tested progressively more advanced models in special space simulators at JPL. In careful steps from 2014 to 2019, engineers at JPL demonstrated that it was possible to build an aircraft that was lightweight, able to generate enough lift in Mars' thin atmosphere, and capable of surviving in a Mars-like environment. Ingenuity has already demonstrated feats of engineering. Both were named by students as part of an essay contest. Portrait of Perseverance and Ingenuity (Artist's Concept): In February 2021, NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover and NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter (shown in an artist's concept) will be the agency's two newest explorers on Mars. "Ingenuity is what allows people to accomplish amazing things." "The ingenuity and brilliance of people working hard to overcome the challenges of interplanetary travel are what allow us all to experience the wonders of space exploration," Rupani wrote. High school student Vaneeza Rupani of Northport, Alabama, originally submitted the name Ingenuity for the Mars 2020 rover, before it was named Perseverance, but NASA officials recognized the submission as a terrific name for the helicopter, given how much creative thinking the team employed to get the mission off the ground. Ingenuity is a fitting name for a robot that is the result of extreme creativity. In the meantime, Ingenuity will have a lot of autonomy to make its own decisions about how to fly to a waypoint and keep itself warm.ģ. Commands will need to be sent well in advance, with engineering data coming back from the spacecraft long after each flight takes place. Communication delays are an inherent part of working with spacecraft across interplanetary distances. In addition, flight controllers at JPL won't be able to control the helicopter with a joystick. While Ingenuity's team on Earth has tested the helicopter at Martian temperatures and believes it should work on Mars as intended, the cold will push the design limits of many of Ingenuity's parts. Nights there dip down to minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius). It can also be bone-chillingly cold at Jezero Crater, where Perseverance will land with Ingenuity attached to its belly in February 2021. Because the Mars atmosphere is 99% less dense than Earth's, Ingenuity has to be light, with rotor blades that are much larger and spin much faster than what would be required for a helicopter of Ingenuity's mass on Earth. It's most noticeable when the helicopter enters the frame of the video.What makes it hard for a helicopter to fly on Mars? For one thing, Mars' thin atmosphere makes it difficult to achieve enough lift. If you listen carefully, you can hear the faint hum Ingenuity makes when flying. To make it easier to hear Ingenuity, NASA edited the mono recording to isolate the 84-hertz frequency generated by the craft's rotating blades. Additionally, the planet's thin atmosphere makes it difficult for sounds to travel, especially when they're competing against Mars' bitter winds. Perseverance was 262 feet away from the drone's takeoff and landing spot. NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover May 7, 2021Įven though Ingenuity's blades were spinning at 2,537 rotations per minute, it's hard to hear the helicopter slice through the skies of Mars. How I captured both sight and sound: /Lw44x7kqYZ □ Grab headphones and listen to the otherworldly hum of Ingenuity’s blades as it headed south to scout a new area on its fourth flight. I’ve seen what the #MarsHelicopter can do – and now I’ve heard it.
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