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The first helicopter ever sent to another world is doing very well on Mars after surviving a “seven minute terror” landing aboard NASA’s Perseverance.
The Ingenuity helicopter, which landed on Mars with Perseverance Thursday, February 18, is awake and communicating with controllers on Earth.
Controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) received a downlink on Friday at 6:30 p.m. EST (11:30 p.m. GMT) via the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, indicating the 4-lb. (2 kilograms) the helicopter and its base station are both operating normally.
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“Both appear to be working wonderfully. With this positive report, we will move forward with the charge of the helicopter batteries tomorrow,” Tim Canham, head of Ingenuity Mars helicopter operations at JPL, said in a statement Friday.
This power-up procedure, which took place on Saturday, February 20, will charge the six “rotorcraft” lithium-ion batteries to around 30% of their intended capacity, and the data will be sent back to Earth to decide how to proceed for the future. battery charging sessions.
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For now, JPL plans to charge the batteries to 35% of capacity in a few more days, then do weekly charging sessions to keep the helicopter warm on the cold Martian surface – and ready for its eventual flight. in some months.
Ingenuity draws its power from Perseverance all along, but once the rover lets go of the helicopter, the drone will charge itself entirely, using solar panels.
“Once Perseverance has deployed Ingenuity to the surface, the helicopter will then last for 30 Martian days. [31-Earth-day] experimental flight test window, “JPL said in a statement. A Martian or” ground “day lasts 24 hours and 37 minutes, compared to 24 hours on Earth, and the controllers operate on Mars time for them. 90 first floors of the mission.
“If Ingenuity survives its first spooky Martian nights – where temperatures drop as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit [minus 90 degrees Celsius] – the team will make the first flight of a plane to another world, “JPL added.” If Ingenuity is successful in taking off and hovering during its first flight, over 90% of the project goals will have been met. If the rotorcraft lands successfully and remains operational, up to four more flights could be attempted, each building on the success of the last. “
Ingenuity’s flights could pioneer a new generation of burgeoning Martian explorers working either independently or alongside human landing missions in the distant future. Flying drones on Mars could scout past rovers to plan the best routes, or hover over dangerous terrain to perform scientific studies, among other applications.
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