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On April 7, the retainers that had held the rotor blades together since before launch are expected to be released. If the mission team reaches this milestone, future soils will involve more testing of the rotor blades as well as the motors that drive them. There are also checks of the inertial measurement unit (an electronic device that measures the orientation and angular velocity of a body) and on-board computers responsible for piloting the helicopter autonomously. In addition, the team will continue to monitor the helicopter’s energy performance, including evaluating the power of the solar panels and the state of charge of the craft’s six lithium-ion batteries.
If all goes well with each of the myriad pre-flight checks, Ingenuity’s first attempt to take off from the middle of its 33ft by 33ft (10m by 10m) “airfield” – chosen for its flatness and lack of obstructions – will not be earlier than the evening of April 11.
Subsequent flight tests will be scheduled throughout Ingenuity Month, with Perseverance cameras providing plenty of high-definition footage of the historic mission.
Learn more about ingenuity
The Ingenuity Mars helicopter was built by JPL, which is also managing this technology demonstration project for NASA headquarters. It is supported by the Directorate of Scientific Missions of NASA, the Directorate of Aeronautical Research Missions of NASA and the Directorate of Space Technology Missions of NASA. NASA’s Ames Research Center and Langley Research Center provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance.
At NASA Headquarters, Dave Lavery is the program manager for the Ingenuity Mars helicopter. At JPL, MiMi Aung is the Project Manager and J. (Bob) Balaram is the Chief Engineer.
JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., Built and manages the operations of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter.
For more information on Ingenuity:
https://go.nasa.gov/ingenuity-press-kit
and
https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter
Learn more about perseverance
A key focus of Perseverance’s mission to Mars is astrobiology, including looking for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and hide Martian rock and regolith (broken rocks and dust).
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples on the surface and return them to Earth for further analysis.
JPL built and manages the operations of the Perseverance rover.
To learn more about perseverance:
nasa.gov/perseverance
and
mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
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