The helicopter returned data to mission teams on Earth late Friday night, causing NASA to reschedule the first flight. The team reports that the helicopter remains safe and sound and shares all of its data.
Ingenuity did a quick test of its rotors on Friday. During this test, the command sequence ended early due to a watchdog timer that expired.
This early end of the test happened when the helicopter tried to move the flight computer from pre-flight to flight mode.
The timer monitors the command sequence, and if problems arise, the system is alerted and the safety of the helicopter is maintained by switching off until the problem can be resolved.
In this case, according to the agency, the timer did exactly what it was supposed to do.
Meanwhile, the helicopter’s team on earth is reviewing the data so they can determine what the test is. After this review, the high-speed test of the helicopter rotors is rescheduled.
When Ingenuity can fly to Mars for the first time, the 4-pound helicopter will fly for about 40 seconds. The helicopter turns its two 4-foot blades, rises 3 meters into the air, hovers, turns, takes a photo and hits Mars again.
If this first flight is successful, Ingenuity could fly four more times this month.
Now it must fly autonomously through the thin Martian atmosphere, without the help of its teams on earth. Radio signals take 15 minutes and 27 seconds to cross the current gap between Earth and Mars, which stretches 278.4 million kilometers.
The Perseverance Rover, which helps the helicopter and its mission team on Earth communicate with each other, will receive flight instructions from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The rover will then send the plans to the helicopter. Perseverance will be parked on a 65-foot view of the helicopter so it can watch the flight safely and record images and videos.