The Ingenuity helicopter, folded and docked with the Perseverance rover, on Mars. Photo: NASA / JPL-Caltech.
The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration, (NASA by the acronyms in English: National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has unveiled the first image of his helicopter Ingenuity on Mars, which will be the first to fly to that planet.
Transported by robber Persistence, dropping the cover started the process of releasing the device. On this particular, the report of this mission on Twitter announced the important step: “The debris shield is gone and here’s our first look at the helicopter,” published the mission’s official Twitter account Persistence this Sunday. And he said it’s “stowed sideways, folded and locked in place, so you have to do some inverted origami,” before it hits the ground.
A NASA video describes the implementation process of the Ingenuity: from the fall of the lid, it will reposition itself and followed by the extension of all its legs before being released.
The weight of this plane on Mars is about 680 grams, which was 1.8 kilograms on Earth. The height is now 49 centimeters.
Six lithium ion batteriescharged via a solar panel on top of the rotor, propel the helicopter. It also has two cameras: one in black and white for navigation, and another in color for terrain orientation.
How long does the flight test program last? It is planned to pass 30 Mars days, that is, 31 on our planet.
(With information from RT in Spanish)