{"id":11742,"date":"2021-04-19T01:37:41","date_gmt":"2021-04-18T17:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-schedules-first-mars-helicopter-test-flight-for-monday\/"},"modified":"2021-04-19T01:37:41","modified_gmt":"2021-04-18T17:37:41","slug":"nasa-schedules-first-mars-helicopter-test-flight-for-monday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-schedules-first-mars-helicopter-test-flight-for-monday\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA schedules first Mars helicopter test flight for Monday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/21X5lGlDOfg\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>After some long-distance troubleshooting, NASA\u2019s Ingenuity Mars helicopter will attempt the first flight of its kind on another world Monday in a demonstration that could open the door to a new era of interplanetary aerial scouts.<\/p>\n<p>Engineers at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California uplinked commands for Ingenuity\u2019s test flight Sunday, setting the stage for takeoff on a brief up-and-down hop at 3:31 a.m. EDT (0731 GMT) Monday.<\/p>\n<p>It will take nearly three hours for ground teams to receive data confirming the outcome of the flight. The signals will bounce from the helicopter to the Perseverance rover, which released the drone onto the Martian surface April 3, then to a orbiter flying overhead to relay the data back to Earth.<\/p>\n<p>NASA TV will broadcast live coverage from JPL\u2019s operations center beginning at 6:15 a.m. EDT (1015 GMT) Monday as officials await data on the results of Ingenuity\u2019s hop. Once the data starts flowing, engineers will analyze the signals for the telltale signature the the helicopter took and landed successfully.<\/p>\n<p>Then images will start streaming back to Earth from cameras on-board Ingenuity, and cameras on the Perseverance rover observing the flight from a range of about 200 feet (60 meters).<\/p>\n<p>NASA officials expect the fully automated flight Monday to&nbsp;last around 40 seconds as the drone takes off to an altitude of about 10 feet (3 meters), momentarily hovers there, then rotates to point in a different direction before landing back on its four carbon-fiber legs.<\/p>\n<p>The first images from the helicopter\u2019s black-and-white navigation camera could come back to Earth soon after the test flight Monday. Then the craft will go to sleep and recharge its batteries before transmitting color images.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, a zoomed-in high-definition camera on the Perseverance rover\u2019s mast will try to capture still images and video of the helicopter flight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re really excited,\u201d said Tim Canham, Ingenuity\u2019s operations lead at JPL. \u201cIt could be an amazing day. We\u2019re all nervous, but we have confidence that we put in the work and the time, and we have the right poeple to do the job.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_51154\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51154\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-51154\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ingenuity3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"874\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ingenuity3.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ingenuity3-300x219.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ingenuity3-768x559.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ingenuity3-678x494.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-51154\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the cameras on the Perseverance rover\u2019s Mastcam-Z instrument took this picture of the Ingenuity helicopter April 9. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/ASU<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>If the first flight is as successful as NASA hopes, Ingenuity could fly four more times in subsequent weeks, trying more daring flight profiles before wrapping up the test flight campaign early next month. Then NASA wants to free up Perseverance to continue on its primary science mission of finding and collecting Martian rock samples for eventual return to Earth.<\/p>\n<p>Lori Glaze, head of NASA\u2019s planetary science division, described the Ingenuity helicopter as a \u201chigh-risk, high-reward\u201d experiment that could pave the way for future aerial vehicles to explore Mars and other planets.<\/p>\n<p>The $80 million Ingenuity helicopter has a mass of just 1.8 kilograms. It weighed 4 pounds on Earth, or 1.5 pounds in Martian gravity, but its lightweight blades will have to generate lift in an atmosphere less than 1% the density of Earth\u2019s at sea level.<\/p>\n<p>Bobby Braun, director of planetary science at JPL, said the helicopter and its support team back on Earth will attempt to produce a \u201cWright brothers\u2019 moment\u201d on another world.<\/p>\n<p>Recognizing Ingenuity\u2019s flight as another aviation first, NASA installed a postage stamp-size piece of fabric from the Wright brothers\u2019 first aircraft, known as the Flyer, onto the Mars helicopter. The fabric covered one of the aircraft\u2019s wings during its first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on Dec. 17, 1903.<\/p>\n<p>Another piece of fabric and a fragment of spruce wood from the Wright Flyer flew to the moon on the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. While the Wright brothers used fabric and wood for their aircraft, Ingenuity is made of carbon-fiber skins and \u201cexotic metals,\u201d said Bob Balaram, Ingenuity\u2019s chief engineer at JPL.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA\u2019s science division called Ingenuity\u2019s first flight attempt \u201ca historic moment the likes of which have analogs in 1903 \u2014 controlled flight on a different planet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since Perseverance deployed the Ingenuity helicopter from its belly earlier this month, the rotorcraft has proven it can recharge its batteries using a solar panel, and keep warm in the frigid Martian night. Ground teams also sent commands to&nbsp;unlock the rotor blades, spanning nearly 4 feet (1.2 meters) tip-to-tip, for a low-speed spin test of 50 rpm.<\/p>\n<p>But a problem cut short the drone\u2019s rotor startup sequence on Mars during an attempted high-speed spin-up April 9. The rapid spin test of Ingenuity\u2019s counter-rotating blades was supposed to be a final checkout before officials moved on to the helicopter\u2019s first flight, then scheduled for April 11.<\/p>\n<p>The command sequence for the high-speed spin test ended early as the helicopter was trying to transition the flight computer from \u201cpre-flight\u201d to \u201cflight\u201d mode, according to NASA. A watchdog timer system designed to oversee the command sequence expired before the completion of the spin test, prematurely ending the helicopter\u2019s spin test.<\/p>\n<p>Teams at JPL have devised two tactics to resolve the command sequence problem. One approach involves adjusting the command sequence to \u201cslightly alter the timing\u201d of the helicopter\u2019s transition from pre-flight to flight mode, according to MiMi Aung, Ingenuity\u2019s project manager.<\/p>\n<p>The other solution is move disruptive and would further delay the helicopter\u2019s first flight. That option is to reinstall modified software into Ingenuity\u2019s flight computer, replacing code that had worked perfectly for the helicopter for nearly two years, Aung wrote in a post on NASA\u2019s website.<\/p>\n<p>Trying the flight using the altered command sequence is easier, and it worked Friday during a successful high-speed spin test of the helicopter\u2019s rotors to near 2,500 rpm. Testing shows that solution will allow the helicopter to switch to flight mode and take off on 85% of attempts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe also know that if the first attempt does not work on Monday, we can try these commands again, with good probability that subsequent tries in the days following would work even if the first doesn\u2019t,\u201d Aung wrote. \u201cFor these reasons, we\u2019ve chosen to pursue this path.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_51035\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51035\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-51035\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/selfie1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"883\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/selfie1.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/selfie1-300x221.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/selfie1-768x565.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/selfie1-678x499.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/selfie1-80x60.jpg 80w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-51035\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NASA\u2019s Perseverance Mars rover took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, seen here about 13 feet (3.9 meters) from the rover in this image taken April 6 by the WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera on the SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) instrument, located at the end of the rover\u2019s long robotic arm. Perseverance\u2019s selfie with Ingenuity is made up of 62 individual images stitched together once they are sent back to Earth. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the meantime, teams on Earth continue to pursue the backup option of updating Ingenuity\u2019s software. The new software has already been uplinked to the Perseverance rover, which could transmit the code to Ingenuity through the rover-to-helicopter wireless communications link if required.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf our initial approach to flight does not work, the rover will send the new flight control software to the helicopter,\u201d Aung wrote. \u201cWe will then require several additional days of preparation to load and test the new software on Ingenuity, redo the rotor tests in this new configuration, and recycle for a first flight attempt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aung compared the test flight attempt to a rocket launch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re doing everything we can to make it a success, but we also know that we may have to scrub and try again,\u201d she wrote. \u201cIn engineering, there is always uncertainty, but this is what makes working on advanced technology so exciting and rewarding. We have to continually innovate and develop solutions to new challenges. And we get to try things others have only dreamed of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIngenuity is a technology experiment,\u201d Aung wrote. \u201cAs such, our plan is to push the envelope and learn by doing. We take risks that other missions cannot, weighing each step carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If everything works, the carbon-fiber rotors will spin at nearly 40 times per second to lift the Ingenuity helicopter off the ground. The rotor blades themselves have a mass of just 35 gains, or a weight of a little over 1 ounce, and they have to spin faster than helicopter rotors on Earth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA rotorcraft flies by generating lift,\u201d Aung said. \u201cOn Earth it\u2019s by pushing air, so the blades push the air and the lift is generated. On Mars, where the atmospheric density is so thin \u2014 about 1% compared to here \u2014 there are less molecules basically to push. So that means that we have to compensate \u2026 We have to spin so much faster than we do on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The super-light weight of the helicopter, coupled with lightning fast control algorithms to adjust the craft\u2019s flight 500 times per second, required advanced materials and computing capability.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just couldn\u2019t do it 15 or 20 years ago, \u201d Aung said.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After some long-distance troubleshooting, NASA\u2019s Ingenuity Mars helicopter will attempt the first flight of its kind on another world Monday in a demonstration that could open the door to a new era of interplanetary aerial scouts. Engineers at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California uplinked commands for Ingenuity\u2019s test flight Sunday, setting the stage for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1630,1183,1631,367,1761,1632,190,1633],"class_list":["post-11742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-ingenuity","tag-jet-propulsion-laboratory","tag-jezero-crater","tag-mars","tag-mars-2020","tag-mars-helicopter","tag-nasa","tag-perseverance"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11742\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}