The first helicopter ever sent to another world is doing fine on Mars after landing “seven minutes of terror” aboard NASA’s Perseverance.
The Ingenuity helicopter, which landed on Mars with Persistence on Thursday (Feb. 18), is awake and communicating with controllers on Earth.
Controllers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) received a downlink Friday at 6:30 p.m. EST (2330 GMT) via the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, indicating the 4-lb. (2 kilogram) helicopter and base station both operate normally.
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“Both appear to be working excellently. With this positive report, we will continue to recharge the helicopter batteries tomorrow,” said Tim Canham, JPL’s chief of operations for Ingenuity Mars helicopters. said in a statement Friday
That start-up sequence, which took place on Saturday (February 20), will recharge the six lithium-ion batteries for ‘helicopters’ to approximately 30% of their planned capacity, and the data will be sent back to Earth to decide how to proceed with future battery charging sessions.
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For now, JPL plans to charge the batteries to 35% capacity in a few days, then do weekly recharging sessions to keep the helicopter warm on the cold surface of Mars – and ready for its final flight in a few months.
For the time being, Ingenuity gets its strength from Perseverance, but as soon as the rover releases the helicopter, the drone charges completely independently using solar panels.
“After Perseverance brings Ingenuity to the surface, the helicopter has a 30 Martian day [31-Earth-day] experimental flight test window, “JPL said in a statement. A Martian day or” sol “lasts 24 hours and 37 minutes, compared to Earth’s 24 hours, and controllers operate on Mars for the first 90 sols of the mission.
If Ingenuity survives its first chilling Martian nights – where temperatures drop to minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit [minus 90 degrees Celsius] – the team will proceed with the maiden flight of an airplane on another world, “added JPL.” If Ingenuity manages to take off and soar on its maiden flight, more than 90 percent of the project’s objectives will have been achieved. If the helicopter lands successfully and remains operational, up to four additional flights can be attempted, each building on the success of the latter. “
Ingenuity’s flights could pioneer a new generation of rising Mars explorers working either independently or alongside human landing missions in the distant future. Flying drones on Mars can lead rovers to plan the best routes, or hover over dangerous terrain to conduct scientific studies, among other things.
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