Wednesday, March 27, 2024

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter prepares for first flight on Mars

NASA will make the first attempt at a powered, controlled flight of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on another planet early next month. The agency announced it plans to test fly the 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) rotorcraft on April 8 or later.

Ingenuity Helicopter remains attached to the belly of NASA’s Perseverance rover, which successfully landed on the surface of the Red Planet on February 18. On March 21, the rover deployed the guitar case-shaped graphite composite debris shield that protected Ingenuity during landing.

The rover currently is in transit to the “airfield” – a 33-by-33-foot (10-by-10-meter) patch of Martian real estate chosen for its flatness and lack of obstructions – where Ingenuity will attempt to fly. Once deployed, Ingenuity will have 30 Martian days or sols (31 Earth days) to conduct its test flight mission.

The intricate process of deploying the helicopter and making the necessary preflight checks will take about six sols (six days, four hours on Earth). On the first sol, the team on Earth will activate a bolt-breaking device, releasing a locking mechanism that helped hold the helicopter firmly against the rover’s belly during launch and Mars landing.

The following sol, they will fire a cable-cutting pyrotechnic device, enabling the mechanized arm that holds Ingenuity to begin rotating the helicopter out of its horizontal position as it extends two of its four landing legs. On the third sol, a small electric motor will finish rotating Ingenuity until it latches, and this will be followed by deploying the final two landing legs will snap into position.

The helicopter will hang suspended at about 5 inches (13 centimeters) over the Martian surface in its final position. On the fifth sol of deployment, the team will use the final opportunity to utilize Perseverance as a power source and charge Ingenuity’s six battery cells. On the sixth and final scheduled sol of this deployment phase, the helicopter will be set down, and the rover will drive about 16 feet (about 5 meters) away, so the helicopter’s solar panels are exposed to the sun. At this point, a 30-sol (31-day) onboard mission clock will start.

The robotic helicopter will run its rotors to 2,537 rpm and, if all final self-checks look good, lift-off. After climbing at a rate of about 3 feet per second (1 meter per second), the helicopter will hover at 10 feet (3 meters) above the surface for up to 30 seconds. Then, the Mars Helicopter will descend and touch back down on the Martian surface.

Aptly named, Ingenuity is a technology demonstration that aims to be the first powered flight on another world and, if successful, could further expand our horizons and broaden the scope of what is possible with Mars exploration,said Lori Glaze, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters.

Flying a vehicle above Mars is far more difficult than flying on Earth. While there’s less gravity on the planet, the atmosphere is just 1% as dense as Earth’s at the surface. During Martian daytime, the planet’s surface receives only about half the amount of solar energy that reaches Earth during its daytime. Nighttime temperatures can drop as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius), which can freeze and crack unprotected electrical components.

Mars is hard,” said MiMi Aung, project manager for Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at JPL. “Our plan is to work whatever the Red Planet throws at us the very same way we handled every challenge we’ve faced over the past six years – together, with tenacity and a lot of hard work, and a little Ingenuity.