{"id":11786,"date":"2021-03-27T01:02:39","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T17:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-primed-for-historic-flight-of-experimental-mars-helicopter\/"},"modified":"2021-03-27T01:02:39","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T17:02:39","slug":"nasa-primed-for-historic-flight-of-experimental-mars-helicopter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-primed-for-historic-flight-of-experimental-mars-helicopter\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA primed for historic flight of experimental Mars helicopter"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
An artist\u2019s illustration of the Ingenuity Helicopter flying on Mars. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover will soon release a small rotorcraft onto the surface of Mars and drive a safe distance away to observe a series of historic test flights in the ultra-thin Martian atmosphere, which could begin around April 8, officials said this week.<\/p>\n

The Mars Helicopter, named Ingenuity, has been stowed underneath the deck of the Perseverance rover for nearly one year. Ground crews at the Kennedy Space Center installed the 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) rotorcraft onto the belly of the rover April 6, 2020, during preparations for Perseverance\u2019s launch last July.<\/p>\n

Controllers at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory are now preparing to send commands to release the Ingenuity helicopter. The rover released a debris cover March 21 to reveal the helicopter. The carbon-fiber shield protected Ingenuity from rocks and dust kicked up during the rover\u2019s landing on Mars on Feb. 18.<\/p>\n

The rotorcraft was a relatively late addition to Perseverance\u2019s mission. NASA approved the helicopter technology demonstration to fly to Mars with the Perseverance rover in 2018, just two years before launch.<\/p>\n

NASA spent $80 million developing and building the helicopter, which will stand about 1.6 feet (0.5 meters) tall and has counter-rotating rotors that will span about 4 feet (1.2 meters) tip-to-tip. Another $5 million is devoted to operating the helicopter during a 31-day test campaign, which officially begins when Perseverance releases Ingenuity in the coming days.<\/p>\n

Ingenuity\u2019s test flight is scheduled for around April 8, but that date could change as the helicopter goes through its deployment and testing milestones, according to Bob Balaram, helicopoter\u2019s chief engineer at JPL.<\/p>\n

The helicopter\u2019s first hop is designed to reach an altitude of about 10 feet, or 3 meters. Ingenuity will hover in place for about 30 seconds, then make a turn while it\u2019s hovering before descending back to the surface of Mars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first flight is special,\u201d said H\u00e5vard Grip, Ingenuity\u2019s chief pilot at JPL, during a press conference Tuesday. \u201cIt\u2019s by far the most important flight that we plan to do. It will be the first powered flight by an aircraft on another planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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

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 Balaram said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is, in effect, an aircraft that also happens to be a spacecraft,\u201d Balaram said. \u201cIt has survived launch. It has survived the journey through space, the vacuum and radiation, it has survived the entry, descent and landing onto the surface on the bottom of the Perseverance rover, and it has survived all the challenges and design issues that are necessary for a spacecraft.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut most of all I think of Ingenuity also as an experimental aircraft,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The surface pressure of the Martian atmosphere is about 1% that of Earth\u2019s, meaning Ingenuity\u2019s rotors will have to generate extra lift to allow the helicopter to take off. The Mars helicopter\u2019s rotors will spin about five-to-ten times faster than a typical helicopter flying in Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

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

Before it can attempt to make history, the helicopter will through a series of deployment and checkout steps. It will take about six days to fully release the rotorcraft from the rover, first releasing a launch lock that kept Ingenuity firmly attached to the rover during the trip to Mars.<\/p>\n

Then a pyrotechnic device will cut a table to allow Ingenuity to begin rotating out of its horizontal position, and the helicopter will extend two of its four landing legs. By the third day, an electric motor will fully rotate Ingenuity into a vertical orientation underneath the rover, and the other two landing legs will unfurl into position on the fourth day of the helicopter\u2019s deployment sequence, according to NASA.<\/p>\n

At that point, the helicopter will remain attached to the rover by a single bolt and a couple of tiny electrical connectors, NASA said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The debris shield, a protective covering on the bottom of NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover, was released on March 21. The debris shield protected the agency\u2019s Ingenuity helicopter during landing, and its removal allows NASA to proceed with deployment of the helicopter on the surface of Mars. This image was taken by a camera on the end of the Perseverance rover\u2019s robotic arm. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA says a wide angle camera at the end of the rover\u2019s robotic arm will take pictures of Ingenuity throughout the sequence to confirm everything looks good.<\/p>\n

On the day before Perseverance releases the helicopter, the Ingenuity team at JPL will fully charge the rotorcraft\u2019s six battery cells using electricity from the rover\u2019s plutonium power source. Then the rover will sever its connection to the helicopter to drop about 5 inches (13 centimeters) down to the Martian surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen there will the deposition of the helicopter on the surface, and then there will be that first exposure to sunlight where we have to charge the batteries by ourselves,\u201d Balaram said. \u201cWe are no longer part of the Perseverance rover and connected safely and we are completely on our own, fully autonomous, waiting to receive commands.<\/p>\n

Once Ingenuity is on the ground, the Perseverance begin driving away from the helicopter. Its destination will be an observation point 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.<\/p>\n

Ground teams selected the location for the airfield with the help of imagery from Perseverance\u2019s cameras, which surveyed the landscape at its landing site at Jezero Crater over the last month. The region chosen for the test flights is flat, with few rocks or obstacles that could pose a threat to the helicopter.<\/p>\n

There will be a bit of drama after the rover releases the helicopter onto the surface.<\/p>\n

Ingenuity\u2019s batteries can power the helicopter and keep its internal electronics warm for about 25 hours before they need recharged. The rover will be shading Ingenuity\u2019s solar panels after it releases the aircraft, so it will have to drive away within a day to allow sunlight to illuminate the helicopter, according to Farah Alibay, an engineer who oversees Perseverance\u2019s integration with the Ingenuity helicopter.<\/p>\n

\"\"
NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover captured this view of the Ingenuity helicopter\u2019s \u201cairfield\u201d in Jezero Crater. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe will go through a number of days of commissioning, approximately a week, where we test out sensors, we test out solar mechanisms, we test the motors to make sure they spin right, and we will be very methodical and even driven as this engineering experiment unfolds,\u201d Balaram said. \u201cAnd then we will be at a point where we will undertake our first flight and then we will progressively undertake more aggressive flights once we understand and analyze all the behaviors on that first flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ingenuity\u2019s counter-rotating rotors will spin up to 2,537 rpm \u2014 more than 40 times per second \u2014 while the helicopter remains on the ground, a final test before engineers commit the aircraft to flight.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur current best estimate of when the (first) flight could happen is no earlier than about April 8, but things are fluid,\u201d Balaram said. \u201cWe are very event and experiment driven, so that could be changed by a few days in either direction, but the best guess that we have right now is about April 8.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mars is currently about 159 million miles, or 259 million kilometers, from Earth. It takes communications signals about 14 minutes make a one-way trip between the planets, eliminating any chance for ground teams to fly Ingenuity in real-time.<\/p>\n

Instead, engineers will uplink commands for each of the helicopter\u2019s flights, and Ingenuity will autonomously take off and land, using a vision-based navigation system to help guide its flights.<\/p>\n

Engineers tested the helicopter in a low-pressure chamber at JPL, which simulates the atmospheric conditions on Mars.<\/p>\n

Before committing the helicopter to flight, engineers will assess wind conditions and other weather parameters, such as atmospheric density, to maximize the chances of success. Controllers at JPL can adjust the rotor speed to best match the atmospheric conditions on the day of each flight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the biggest challenge will be that we are are flying in the atmosphere of Mars, which has its own dynamics, its own winds, with gusts and so forth,\u201d Balaram said. \u201cThese are things which we tested with wind tunnels in our chamber. We have some confidence that everything will be good, but there\u2019s nothing that beats actually being in the real environment of Mars to see how well the \u2026 aerodynamics actually work out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balaram said there are also challenges related to surviving the cold Martian nights, when temperatures dip well below zero.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to keep a small system warm through the night. So just to see how well that thermal system protects us through the night, how well does the solar panel work?\u201d he said. \u201cThere are a number of engineering aspects before you even get to the flight. But when it comes to the actual flying, it\u2019s really the winds and the dynamics of how that all interacts with the helicopter that will be most interesting for us to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assuming the first flight goes well, Ingenuity could fly up to four more times, reaching a higher altitude of about 16 feet (5 meters) and traversing downrange along the pre-selected flight zone, before returning to its \u201chelipad\u201d for landing.<\/p>\n

The 16-foot limit for Ingenuity\u2019s flights is largely driven by the performance limitations of a laser rangefinder on-board that measures the helicopter\u2019s distance to the ground, according to Grip.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re focusing on demonstrating basic capability to hover and then traversing and going longer distances, where we go down the flight zone and back again,\u201d Grip said. \u201cAnd then if we get past those, we will assess did we meet all tho objectives during those flights, do we want to back and retry some of those things, or if everything goes really well, then we might try to stretch our capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASA has set aside just one month for Ingenuity\u2019s test flights because the $2.4 billion Perseverance mission needs to get moving in pursuit of its own higher-priority scientific objectives. The rover is designed to collect rock samples for return to Earth by a future mission set to arrive at Mars in the late 2020s.<\/p>\n

Scientists back on Earth will analyze the specimens and search for signs of ancient Martian life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIngenuity is a limited time project,\u201d Glaze said. \u201cIt will have 31 Earth days to attempt to be the first helicopter to fly on another planet. It isn\u2019t intended to collect science, but because its mission is so focused, it is, at its core, innovative.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s first Mars rover, named Sojourner, landed on the Red Planet in 1997 and proved the usefulness of surface mobility in exploring other worlds.<\/p>\n

\u201cSojourner redefined what we thought was possible on the surface of Mars and completely transformed our approach to how we explore it,\u201d Glaze said. \u201cThat small rover enabled all the missions to follow, and now Perseverance \u2014 the size of a small car \u2014 is able to carry other technology demonstrations, like Ingenuity, which will further expand our horizons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Future rotorcraft could be dispatched to other planets with more sophisticated scientific instruments.<\/p>\n

NASA has selected a robotic mission named Dragonfly to explore Saturn\u2019s largest moon Titan. But Titan has a much thicker atmosphere than Mars, which eases the difficulty of rotor-driven flight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can scout and scientifically survey Mars from the air with a thin atmosphere, we can certainly do the same in a number of other destinations across the solar system, like Titan or Venus,\u201d Braun said.<\/p>\n

Airborne drones could survey regions on other planets not reachable by rovers driving on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future of powered flight in space exploration is solid and strong,\u201d Braun said.<\/p>\n

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

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

An artist\u2019s illustration of the Ingenuity Helicopter flying on Mars. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover will soon release a small rotorcraft onto the surface of Mars and drive a safe distance away to observe a series of historic test flights in the ultra-thin Martian atmosphere, which could begin around April 8, officials said this week. […]<\/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":[1630,1183,1631,367,1761,1632,1214,190],"class_list":["post-11786","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-mars-sample-return","tag-nasa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11786"}],"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=11786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}