NASA engineers have decided to postpone the Ingenuity helicopter’s debut flight on Mars until at least Wednesday, April 14, after encountering a small computer error during a rotor test late Friday night, the agency said on Saturday. The small vessel is healthy, but engineers need more time to review data from the unexpected hiccup before proceeding.
Ingenuity, a four-pound mini-helicopter that arrived on Mars on February 18, coupled to NASA’s Perseverance Rover, would initially perform its first flight test late Sunday night (or mid-day Mars time). The first bits of data on whether the flight attempt was successful were expected to arrive early Monday morning, around 4 p.m.
The data from a high-speed rotor test conducted Friday showed that the test sequence “ended early due to a ‘watchdog’ timer,” NASA said. This happens when Ingenuity’s computer tries to switch from pre-flight mode to flight mode.
Ingenuity’s “watchdog timer” is exactly that – a software-based watchdog that monitors the helicopter’s test series and warns engineers if something looks abnormal. “It helps the system stay safe by not continuing if a problem is detected and working as planned,” NASA said in a blog post.
NASA has emphasized that the craft is healthy, and Ingenuity is still in good contact with engineers at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
Ingenuity was deployed on March 4 by Perseverance on the Mars surface and kicked off a 31-day clock in which five flight tests are planned. For its first flight demonstration, the helicopter will rise 10 feet above the surface and soar for about 30 seconds, aiming to reach the first flight ever with another world. Depending on how the first test goes, subsequent tests will involve Ingenuity soaring to higher altitudes and buzzing in the orbit-shaped flight zone at Mars’ Jezero crater.