In between flights, the small helicopter has to contend with nighttime temperatures that plummet as low as -130☏. ![]() It needs to autonomously control its rotors very quickly to remain stable in the air, using a tiny computer similar to a smartphone’s electronics, as well as technology developed for self-driving cars. Ingenuity will spin those four-foot-wide rotors up to a frenzied speed of about 2,500 rotations per minute. Batteries had to become more efficient, computers had to get smaller, and lightweight composite materials had to be developed for the helicopter’s rotors. ![]() Some early ideas for a Martian helicopter were studied in the 1990s, but it took another couple decades before the required technology was advanced enough to actually fly a prototype in a vacuum chamber on Earth. If something goes wrong-a sensor malfunctions or an unexpectedly strong gust of wind hits Ingenuity-the craft could come crashing to the ground. The flight attempt is risky because Mars’s thin air makes it much harder to use rotor blades, like those on a helicopter, to achieve controlled flight. The rover is now serving as a communications relay for the helicopter’s test flight. NASA’s Perseverance rover deposited Ingenuity on the surface after it successfully landed on Mars on February 18. “Eventually for human missions to Mars, it could be a scout for the astronauts.” Where air is thin and nights are cold “What a helicopter would potentially do is bridge the difference between that orbital perspective and the ground perspective, to where we could now get a little bit more of a sense of Mars regionally,” Shindell says.Ī future flying machine could also be used as “a scout for rover missions, to overlook a horizon to plan out where to drive,” adds Steve Jurczyk, NASA’s acting administrator. They could also reach locations such as canyon walls or volcanic slopes that a rover could never visit. Helicopters on Mars would be able to study entire craters, canyons, and mountains in much more detail than orbiters, says Matt Shindell, a curator of planetary science and exploration at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM). Spacecraft orbiting Mars give a global sense of the planet’s structure and geologic features, while landers and rovers on the surface provide an up-close look at the minerals and rock layers that hold clues about the planet’s history. NASA hopes that the 19-inch-tall helicopter will pave the way for bigger rotorcraft on Mars, allowing scientists to study the red planet from a new perspective. “JPL, right? We dare mighty things,” says Aung, referring to the NASA lab’s official motto. The trip will last just 30 seconds, but if it’s successful, Ingenuity will open up new opportunities for exploring other worlds, says MiMi Aung, the Ingenuity project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The highest helicopter flight in history occurred in 1972, when French aviator Jean Boulet flew to 40,820 feet at an airbase northwest of Marseille.ĭuring its first flight, Ingenuity will ascend to about 10 feet, hover and turn slightly, then touch back down. ![]() The team plans to update the software on the helicopter and "will set a flight date next week," according to a NASA status update.įlying on Mars is incredibly challenging because of the planet’s wispy atmosphere, which is equivalent to an altitude of about 100,000 feet on Earth-much higher than even the most capable helicopters can fly. NASA says the helicopter is safe and communicating with Earth. While trying to spin the helicopter’s rotors at full speed without leaving the ground, Ingenuity’s onboard computer ended the test early. Ingenuity’s first flight was originally slated for April 11, but the mission hit a snag during a pre-flight test. ![]() The space agency’s small helicopter, called Ingenuity, has been deposited in a flat area on Mars, and it is running through a series of final tests before it tries to lift into the thin Martian air. NASA is nearly ready to attempt the first flight on another planet.
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