Now that NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has completed its first test flight over the red planet, members of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will prepare for the next stages of their mission.
Following Monday’s historic event, the solar-powered helicopter will attempt to make four additional flights in less than 30 days.
NASA INGENUITY MARS HELICOPTER MAKES HISTORY WITH FIRST POWERED, CONTROLLED FLIGHT ON ANOTHER PLANET
Over the next three Mars days – known as sols – the helicopter team will receive and analyze data and images from the first flight and prepare a plan for the second experimental test, scheduled no earlier than April 22.
“If the helicopter survives the second flight test, the Ingenuity team will consider how best to expand the flight profile,” NASA said in a publication Monday.
Ingenuity will operate up to five flights, assuming NASA continues to successfully overcome potential hurdles, each with opportunities to capture additional data for future reference.
The Associated Press reported on Monday that the ambitious pursuit could pave the way for a fleet of Martian drones as well as aid in helicopter navigation on Earth.
Perseverance’s Navcam View of Ingenuity’s First Flight
(NASA)
After Ingenuity is completed, the Perseverance rover will resume its focus on surface operations.
For Ingenuity’s flight, Perseverance drove to its Overlook site, where it documented the achievement using the Mastcam-Z and Navcam imagers.
NASA’s Perseverance Twitter account also wrote that it had captured some of the local rocks at the lookout point prior to Ingenuity’s launch.
Perseverance will still be used to communicate with the now fully autonomous Ingenuity throughout the process.
As NASA points out in its press releases, a primary objective of “Percy’s” mission on Mars is astrobiology research that includes the search for ancient microbial life.
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, seen here about 13 feet (3.9 meters) from the rover. This photo was taken by the WASTON camera on the rover’s robotic arm on April 6, 2021, the 46th day of Mars, or sol, of the mission.Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
(NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS)
As the rover characterizes the geology of Mars, it will collect and store rock and sediment – drill core samples in rock targets of interest to the scientists.
In March, NASA announced that Perseverance’s SuperCam instrument had selected two rock targets, “Yeehgo” and “Máaz” for study.
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In partnership with NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) will send spacecraft to Mars to collect and return the cached samples – stored in tubes and placed on a storage rack before being placed in the same area on the surface of Mars. to Earth for analysis.
The rover can store more than 30 selected rock and “soil” samples before completing its task.