“It will perform the very first ever-controlled flight,” Aung said of the Ingenuity helicopter, weighing only 4 kilograms.
NASA will try to land the Perseverance Rover on Mars this Thursday.
Based on discoveries from nearly 20 U.S. missions to Mars, perseverance could set the scene for scientists to unequivocally show whether life existed outside of Earth, paving the way for ultimate human missions to the fourth planet from the sun .
Video transcription
MIMI AUNG: Our team therefore studied the question of whether it is possible to fly a helicopter on Mars. And so we started the first demonstration of an elevator with a 1/3 scale vehicle here in a room with Mars-like atmospheric density. And there’s someone outside trying to make it fly. We reached elevator but did not control.
We have learned that the dynamics on Mars in this thin atmosphere are very different. And then we build a full-scale vehicle with on-board, real-time, closed loop control, which always weighs less than 1.8 kilograms. It’s 4 pounds.
So what you see in the video here is one of our many, many flights that we experimented with this 1.8 kilogram Mars helicopter. And you see the helicopter fly. It seems very easy when you look at it. But you are looking at a room with about 1% atmosphere compared to the room you are currently sitting in.
The next important milestone will be when Perseverance rover delivers Speed on the surface of Mars. You will see that the debris shield that protects the helicopter from descending is first deployed. And then the helicopter is harnessed by the Mars Helicopter Delivery System. This is a very complicated system that will take about ten days to find the series you are looking for to drop Ingenuity to the surface.
And that drop, the moment that drop takes place, is the moment Ingenuity has to start working on its own, survive the cold, icy nights of Mars, minus 90 degrees Celsius, to keep itself warm. It must collect energy from the sun through its solar panels to charge the battery. It needs to talk to the space station. It has to do it all in its small £ 4.
And then we go to the very important first flight. Rover stays at least 100 yards away and will be watching Ingenuity. And Ingenuity will take its first flight. The first flight will rise to about 3 meters high and soar for about 20 seconds. And it will carry out the very first powered flight on another planet.
[HELICOPTER BLADES BUZZING]
And as Thomas mentioned at the beginning of this event, it will truly be a Wright moment, but on a different planet.