{"id":11766,"date":"2021-04-06T01:06:27","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T17:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasas-mars-helicopter-ready-for-pre-flight-checkouts\/"},"modified":"2021-04-06T01:06:27","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T17:06:27","slug":"nasas-mars-helicopter-ready-for-pre-flight-checkouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasas-mars-helicopter-ready-for-pre-flight-checkouts\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Mars helicopter ready for pre-flight checkouts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
The Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mission controllers plan to unlock the blades on NASA\u2019s Ingenuity helicopter and spin them up to more than 2,000 rpm for a test later this week, a bit of \u201ccalisthenics\u201d  before the rotorcraft\u2019s first flight in the atmosphere of Mars as soon as this weekend, the helicopter\u2019s operations lead said Monday.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover deposited the rotorcraft onto the Martian surface Saturday. Since then, the helicopter has started charging its lithium-ion batteries using solar power and the craft appears healthy after surviving surviving the first frigid nights alone on Mars.<\/p>\n

The helicopter had been attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover since last April, before the missions launch in July. The Ingenuity helicopter drew power from the rover\u2019s nuclear battery for its survival heaters until ground teams at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Saturday sent commands to disconnect the final bolt and electrical cables linking the rotorcraft with Perseverance.<\/p>\n

The 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) helicopter\u2019s four carbon-composite legs dropped the final few inches to the surface of Mars, and the Perseverance rover drove about 16 feet (5 meters) to allow sunlight to bathe the rotorcraft\u2019s solar panel and begin charging its batteries.<\/p>\n

So far, the performance of Ingenuity\u2019s solar array is \u201clooking very good,\u201d said Tim Canham, the helicopter\u2019s operations lead at JPL.<\/p>\n

Canham said Monday that ground teams at JPL were \u201cdancing and cheering\u201d when they got confirmation that the helicopter was alive on the surface of Mars.<\/p>\n

The $80 million helicopter is a technology demonstration. It aims to become the first airborne vehicle to achieve a powered flight in the atmosphere of another planet. But the helicopter\u2019s diminutive stature \u2014 driven largely by size and mass requirements needed to fit on the belly of the rover and still be able to fly in Mars\u2019s thin atmosphere \u2014 presented challenges to designers trying to ensure it could withstand the extreme temperatures on the Red Planet.<\/p>\n

The temperatures at Jezero Crater, where Perseverance landed Feb. 18, can dip as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius).<\/p>\n

\u201cPing! Right on time, it started talking on the radio,\u201d Canham said in a webinar on the Ingenuity mission hosted by JPL. \u201cWe\u2019ve got that very awesome milestone behind us. Now, we\u2019re really looking forward to that first flight because that\u2019s that next-level challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time that Ingenuity has been on its own on the surface of Mars,\u201d said MiMi Aung, Ingenuity project manager at JPL. \u201cBut we now have confirmation that we have the right insulation, the right heaters, and enough energy in its battery to survive the cold night, which is a big win for the team. We\u2019re excited to continue to prepare Ingenuity for its first flight test.\u201d<\/p>\n

Engineers are monitoring Ingenuity\u2019s energy and thermal condition over the helicopter\u2019s first few days on the surface. NASA says the data will help teams fine-tune the helicopter\u2019s thermal control system to help it survive cold Martian nights throughout a series of up to five test flights that could stretch into early May.<\/p>\n

The helicopter\u2019s rotor blades, which span 3.9 feet (1.2 meters) tip-to-tip, have been locked since Ingenuity was still on Earth. Ground teams at JPL will command the helicopter to unlock the blades Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Engineers will also check out the motors that drive the rotors and test the helicopter\u2019s autonomous navigation system, which will use an inertial measurement unit to determine its orientation, a camera to determine its location, and an advanced processor that can receive inputs and adjust Ingenuity\u2019s flight trajectory 500 times per second.<\/p>\n

There will be a \u201cwiggle\u201d test of the blades and a spin-up of the rotors while the helicopter remains on the ground. Canham likened those tests to \u201chelicopter calisthenics.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Perseverance will head for an observation location at least 200 feet, or 60 meters, away from Ingenuity\u2019s flight zone, which itself is about the length of a football field. The flight zone includes an airfield, a 33-by-33-foot (10-by-10-meter) area where the helicopter will take off and land. Engineers selected the airfield site for its flat topography free of large rocks.<\/p>\n

NASA wants to ensure the Perseverance rover is a safe distance away from the rotorcraft when it takes off. Using a wireless transmitter and receiver, the Perseverance rover will relay commands and data between ground controllers on Earth and the Ingenuity helicopter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the rover drives to the observation post, we need to make sure that it can still communicate with the helicopter,\u201d Canham said.<\/p>\n

Ingenuity\u2019s first flight is targeted for no earlier than the evening of April 11, with data confirming the outcome of the hop expected back on Earth the next day<\/p>\n

Engineers plan up to five test flights, starting with an ascent to an altitude of about 10 feet (3 meters), where the craft will hover for about 30 seconds before making a turn and landing back where it took off. Further test flights will reach a maximum altitude of about 16 feet (5 meters), and introduce forward motion to carry the helicopter down the flight zone and back to its takeoff location.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can go up and hover and be stable and come back and land safely, then that will be a major moment of triumph for the helicopter team,\u201d Canham said.<\/p>\n

NASA has set aside one month for the Ingenuity helicopter\u2019s demonstration flights, and that clock started when Perseverance released the rotorcraft onto the surface of Mars. The airborne drone will attempt to fly in an atmosphere just 1% the thickness of Earth\u2019s. To do that, the helicopter\u2019s rotors will spin five-to-ten times faster than a typical helicopter flying in Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Ingenuity does not carry any scientific instruments. It has black-and-white and color cameras to assist in autonomous navigation and gather aerial imagery of the Perseverance rover\u2019s landing site at Jezero Crater, which harbored a lake of liquid water more than 3 billion years ago.<\/p>\n

The helicopter will be operating on its own on each of its flights. The one-way travel time for radio signals between Earth and Mars is currently more than 14 minutes.<\/p>\n

While the cameras on-board Ingenuity will take pictures during each flight, a zoomable camera on the Perseverance rover will attempt to snap photos and video of the helicopter as it takes off and lands.<\/p>\n

NASA engineers may also attempt to use the rover\u2019s directional microphone to record audio during the flights. But sound waves do not travel as well through Mars\u2019s thin atmosphere, and it\u2019s not clear whether the microphone will detect any sounds from helicopter\u2019s fast-spinning rotors, said Farah Alibay, who oversees the Perseverance rover\u2019s activities associated with the Ingenuity flight tests.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech Mission controllers plan to unlock the blades on NASA\u2019s Ingenuity helicopter and spin them up to more than 2,000 rpm for a test later this week, a bit of \u201ccalisthenics\u201d  before the rotorcraft\u2019s first flight in the atmosphere of Mars as soon as this weekend, […]<\/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-11766","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\/11766"}],"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=11766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}