NASA ready for Ingenuity’s first flight to Mars
US space agency NASA set to fly the first Ingenuity helicopter to Mars in early April. All the details
NASA will test the first flight of a motor vehicle to another planet in early April: the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars. This was announced by the American space agency.
At present this ultralight helicopter, resembling a large drone, is still folded and anchored to the Perseverance rover that landed on the red planet last month .
If the test is successful, Ingenuity will be the first helicopter to fly to another planet, perhaps opening up a new way to robotically explore space.
All the details.
THE DATE OF TAKE OFF
Bob Balaram, chief engineer of Ingenuity, predicts the take-off date could be April 8, but the exact day could still change.
THE TESTS
Named Ingenuity, the 1.8kg twin-engine plane will attempt a series of short jumps in the thin air of Mars.
The helicopter will perform some test swings and rotations of the rotor blades. It will need to recharge using its solar panel and withstand the freezing Martian nights, which can drop to negative 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
THE FLIGHT OF INGENUITY
The first flight to Mars is expected to be very simple: after vertical take-off, the helicopter will rise up to three meters and hover for 30 seconds, then rotate on itself before landing.
DIFFICULTIES
Flying to Mars is made more difficult by the red planet's thin atmosphere, which is only 1% of the Earth's surface density. Mars also receives half of the solar energy that the Earth receives during the day.
"And while being deployed on the surface will be a great challenge, surviving that first night on Mars alone, without the rover protecting it and keeping it powered, will be even greater," Balaram said.
PERSEVERANCE WILL ATTEMPT TO RETURN THE BUSINESS
The Perseverance rover will endeavor to record everything with the camera. Both the rover and the helicopter operate autonomously and carry separate clocks. Devices will need to be synced for the photograph to capture the action.
"MOMENT OF THE WIRGHT BROTHERS"
If successful, it would represent a kind of "Wright Brothers moment," says NASA. The agency revealed that a small piece of fabric from the Wright brothers' plane, pioneers of land flight, was placed on Ingenuity.
HOW MUCH NASA SPENT ON INGENUITY
The program for this helicopter cost NASA about 85 million dollars.
THE FUTURE IMPLICATIONS
In the future, such boats could prove crucial for planetary exploration, being able to go where rovers can't, for example over canyons.
IN VIEW OF THE DRAGONFLY MISSION
NASA has approved a mission called Dragonfly that will use a robotic aircraft to fly to the surface of Saturn's moon Titan in 2026 and reach it in 2034.
Flight experiments with non-motorized machines on another planet have already taken place in the past, NASA recalled, with the 1985 sending of balloons to Venus as part of the Vega program, a collaboration between the USSR and other countries. , of which France.
BIDEN HAS CHOSEN A SPACE EXPLORATION SUPPORTER TO LEAD THE AGENCY
Finally, last week the President of the United States, Joe Biden, appointed the former Florida dem senator, and enthusiastic supporter of space exploration, as NASA administrator, succeeding Jim Bridenstine. "Almost all space and science laws have had his mark," the White House stressed in a statement.
The appointment must be approved by the Senate.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/nasa-pronta-al-primo-volo-di-ingenuity-su-marte/ on Wed, 24 Mar 2021 11:41:11 +0000.