In this illustration, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter stands on the surface of the Red Planet while NASA’s Perseverance Rover (partially visible on the left) rolls away. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
Based on data from the Ingenuity March helicopter that arrived late Friday night, NASA decided to reschedule the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s first experimental flight to 14 April.
During a rotary speed test of the rotors on Friday, the command sequence that controls the test was terminated early due to a “watchdog” timer. This occurred while trying to switch the flight computer from ‘Flight’ to ‘Flight’. The helicopter is safe and sound and has communicated its complete telemetry to Earth.
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter performs a slow winch test of its blades on April 8, 2021, the 48th March day, or sol, of the mission. This image was captured by the navigation cameras on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
The watchdog timer monitors the command sequence and alerts the system to possible problems. It helps the system to stay safe by not going beyond a problem being observed and working as planned.
The helicopter team reviews telemetry to diagnose and understand the problem. After that, they will reschedule the full-time test.
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter unlocked its blades and released them freely on April 7, 2021, the 47th day of Mars, or sol, of the mission. This image was captured by the Mastcam-Z imager aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on the next sol, April 8, 2021. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech