NASA has given a zealous public a new date for the first controlled flight of the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars: Monday, April 19th. This would be the third time Ingenuity’s flight has been scheduled to date, and with a little luck, that might be the right thing to do.
On Saturday, the space agency announced that Ingenuity, its small helicopter of 4 pounds (1.8 kg), would try to make its first flight on Monday at about 03:30 ET. The new date follows two attempts that were delayed due to pre-checks and a problem with the command prompt during a high speed turn test of its rotors on April 9th. That day, the test ended early due to a “watchdog” timer, while trying to switch the flight computer from pre-flight to flight mode, NASA explained.
Ingenuity’s watchdog timer monitors the helicopter’s command range and alerts the system if there are potential problems. If there is a problem, the watchdog timer helps the system stay safe by not going any further. Completing the turnaround test is an important milestone on Ingenuity’s path to flight.
Ingenuity’s flight crew was working on a solution this problem in recent days. One added a few commands to the helicopter’s flight series, while the other consisted of a change and readjustment of the helicopter. Flight control software. On Friday, Ingenuity successfully executed the full-speed turn test that it could not complete on April 9th.
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To perform the turn test, the team used the flight resolution solution. The approach has been extensively tested on both Earth and Mars, the flight crew in a status update Friday, and was carried out without compromising the safety of Ingenuity, which cost $ 80 million and took years to develop. However, the team has confirmed that no decision has yet been made on which solution for Ingenuity’s first flight.
“The software change is a simple solution to a known issue,” the team wrote. ‘But it will take a little longer to execute and it’s a software modification that has remained stable and unchanged for almost two years. Validation and testing took several days, and the transfer and upload of these new files will take some more time. ‘
In the status update, the team said they will have a meeting on Friday to analyze both solutions and determine which one will do so. would accept for Ingenuity’s first flight. The team did not guarantee that on Friday would agree on a new flight date, but judging by NASA’s announcement, it would most likely did.
The announcement did not reveal what solution the team eventually adopted, although we will surely find out in the next few days.
If Ingenuity is successful, it will be the first time any space agency has operated a controlled flight on another planet. The small helicopter will attempt to make up to five test flights within a window of 30 Mars soles, or 31 Earth Days. Using its downward camera, it will take photos during its test flight, and the team is expected to first receive grainy black-and-white images and later a higher resolution.
During a previous news conference On Ingenuity’s flight, NASA officials said the Perseverance rover, which was carrying Ingenuity on its belly to Mars, was also trying to take photos of its friend’s first flight.
NASA will present a live stream at 06:15 ET on Monday, and then the team will receive data from Ingenuity and find out if its first flight was successful. You can watch the live stream on Youtube below, as well as on NASAs app, website, en Facebook page. If the flight also takes place, NASA will hold an information session at 14:00 ET.