Velocity’s flight delay on Mars
The extra three days give the Ingenuity team the time needed to better read what the power cycle looks like, and, more importantly, to ensure that the energy is positive in all steps of the process. The helicopter’s first flight will take place on a full battery and it will only fly a few meters during the first flight before returning to the surface of Mars. According to NASA, it will not go higher than about 15 feet.
“This next step (flying for the first time) is huge,” said Tim Canham, leader of Mars Helicopter Operations, during an Ingenuity Q&A held today. “Can it go up and soar and land safely? It will be a great triumph for the helicopter team.”
It is currently scheduled for April 11, although an official time has not been announced. However, the flight will not be streamed live. People on earth will not see anything of the flight until the telemetry of the flight is detected, which will take a few sols – or Mars days – that are about 40 minutes longer than days on earth. NASA said the Perseverance rover, the rover that recently landed on Mars and transported Ingenuity to the planet, will monitor the flight of about 65 meters further. It will take photos that will eventually come to earth, but it can also take some time.
Why NASA’s Ingenuity flight is such a big deal
What makes this first flight for NASA such a milestone, besides being the first flight of a helicopter on Mars, is that it is fully powered by pre-programmed series. There are no joysticks involved and the helicopter is also not controlled remotely.
“The series (of flight) was pre-built by the team on the ground,” said Elio Morillo, an endurance engineer, during NASA’s questions and answers. “These ranges have been tested over the years, but they have been canned beforehand. We did not control the helicopter in real time. It is completely autonomous.”This posed many challenges for the Ingenuity team. What happens if there is a Martian wind storm during a flight? The helicopter has sensors that can detect the gusts of wind and correct their course. For the most part, however, the pre-built flight series have been repeatedly tested in rooms that simulate what Ingenuity is experiencing on Mars.
The Perseverance will watch Ingenuity’s first flight about 65 meters from the helicopter on the Van Zyl Overlook. It is taking pictures and the team is currently working on determining if the rover can record audio. It has a microphone on board, but the team does not know if it can pick up the sound of the helicopter due to the distance.
Farah Alibay, leader for integration of perseverance, said it is important to remember that Mars’ atmosphere, which is 1% the density of Earth’s atmosphere, is completely different from our planet and consequently sound moves differently on it.
NASA milestone list, photo credit: NASA
After the first flight, perseverance and ingenuity will go their own way. Ingenuity will begin to prepare for the next flight, and perseverance will return to its original mission: to collect samples from Mars that will be sent to Earth during a later mission. However, the two vehicles will still communicate via radio. The base team will speak with perseverance and perseverance will convey the messages to Ingenuity. The helicopter will respond to the perseverance and the rover will convey the message to the earth.
Velocity’s main mission on Mars
As for the bigger picture for Ingenuity, its mission is to serve as a technological demonstration.
“Ingenuity is a test vehicle for Mars,” Canham said. “It will take super-detailed logs … 500 times per second … (for us) to see what happened and what is flying on Mars. A good analogy is the Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner – to try something which has never been done before and learns a ton from it … for future engineers and scientists to make bigger and better helicopters for Mars. ‘
While waiting for the first flight from Ingenuity to Mars next week, watch this story about the successful landing of the Perseverance on Mars in February and then watch the video of the rover. Read this story about the first sights and sounds captured by Perseverance afterwards and then watch this story about a hidden message on the parachute.
Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer, guide, and science guru for IGN. You can follow him Twitter @LeBlancWes.