Mars milestone: NASA Ingenuity helicopter survives first cold night alone

NASA’s Perseverance Rover and the small Speed ​​Helicopter have something of a parent-child relationship. The rotorcraft spent its first weeks on Mars in the belly of the robber, gaining power and keeping warm. Now the ambitious helicopter has survived on its own through a cruel Mars night.

In essence, Ingenuity moved and went to university.

Perseverance dropped ingenuity to the ground over the weekend and returned to enable the solar power of the helicopter to collect sunlight. The first night was a major concern for the Ingenuity team, but NASA announced Monday that the small flying machine had surpassed the first major obstacle of its era of independence.

NASA called the survival of the helicopter an important milestone. Mars becomes cruelly cold and reaches as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius) in the Jezero crater. It’s enough to mess with Ingenuity’s electronics and batteries, but the helicopter survived thanks to insulation, heaters and enough battery power to keep itself warm.

Ingenuity is a high-risk, high-risk technology demonstration. NASA hopes it will be the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. Perseverance will act as a witness from a place that is overlooked.

The next step is for Ingenuity to check its systems, release the restraints on its rotor blades and test the blades and motors. While it originally did not look for the first glider test until April 8, NASA is now looking at April 11. If all goes well, more flight tests will follow.

Ingenuity is aimed at making aviation history. It has a small piece of fabric from the famous Wright Brothers plane on board as it looks forward to its own Kitty Hawk moment on Mars.

Follow CNET’s 2021 space calendar to stay up to date with all the latest space news this year. You can even add it to your own Google Calendar.