The Ingenuity helicopter successfully makes its first historic flight to Mars

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That’s how the helicopter of ingenuity flew to Mars 0:48

(CNN) – The Ingenuity helicopter has successfully completed its historic flight to Mars and landed safely on the Martian surface, according to NASA.

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The first controlled and powered flight from another planet took place at 3:30 a.m. Miami time.

Unlike when the helicopter’s travel companion, the Perseverance rover, landed on Mars – on February 18 – it was a wait to see how the helicopter went in its attempt.

The helicopter crew was in control of the mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, early in the morning to receive and analyze the first data from the ingenuity flight test.

Live coverage began on NASA’s website Monday morning at 6:15 a.m. Miami time, and a post-flight briefing is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Miami on Monday.

The flight was originally scheduled for April 11, but changed after a scripting issue was discovered when the helicopter went through a pre-flight verification system with its software.

Ingenuity conducted a high-speed test of its rotors on April 10, but the script ended earlier due to the expiration of a security timer. This early end of the test occurred when the helicopter was trying to switch the computer from flight mode before the flight itself.

The helicopter team has established a control sequence adjustment solution that would change the time the two helicopter flight controllers will take off. This should facilitate the transition from pre-verification to both hardware and software.

This perseverance is done in anticipation of the flight of ingenuity 0:41

This setting was chosen instead of modifying and reinstalling the existing flight control software, which is the backup plan if the setting did not allow a successful takeoff.

The helicopter crew received data on April 16 showing that the helicopter successfully completed its quick turn test after using the equipment.

The helicopter flew autonomously through the thin Martian atmosphere, without the help of its control teams on Earth.

“Now we can say that people flew a helicopter to another planet,” said MiMi Aung, JPL’s Ingenuity Project Manager. “We’ve been talking about our time as Wright brothers on another planet for so long. And now, he has arrived ».

The ingenious helicopter will not be flying to Mars any time soon 0:43

The first flight of ingenuity to Mars

The ingenuity, which is a technological demonstration, flew about 40 seconds in total on Monday. The 1.8-kilogram helicopter turned its two blades by just over a meter, rose 3 meters in the air, glided, took a photo and landed on Mars again.

The ingenuity could fly four more times in the next few weeks.

The small helicopter has so far marked several milestones, such as moving the blades and surviving the frozen nights on Mars.

It takes 15 minutes and 27 seconds for radio signals to cross the current gap between Earth and Mars, which stretches for 173 million miles, about 278.4 million kilometers.

“Mars is difficult not only when you land, but also when you try to take off and fly,” Aung said. “It has a significantly lower weight, but less than 1% of the pressure of our atmosphere on its surface. Put things together and you have a vehicle that requires all the data in the system to be correct.

Capturing the first flight of ingenuity

The Perseverance Rover helps the helicopter and its mission team on Earth communicate with each other. He received flight instructions from JPL and sent those plans to the helicopter. Perseverance is parked in a panoramic spot 65 meters away from the helicopter, so you can safely watch the flight and capture images and videos.

During the helicopter, it captured images 30 times per second to enter the navigation computer. This ensured that ingenuity remained the same in the middle of its 10 by 10 meter aerodrome.

The ingenuity used a second higher-resolution camera, which indicates the horizon to capture images every time the helicopter is in the air.

Once the helicopter landed on Mars, it sent data to Earth via the rover.

Low-resolution black-and-white images from the helicopter’s navigation camera may be available first, followed by the color image the next day. The rover will also send pictures and videos from some of its cameras. Perseverance practices video capture of the helicopter, as it has tested its blades in recent days.

“The Wright brothers had only a handful of eyewitnesses on their first flight, but fortunately the historic moment was captured in a large photograph,” JPL director Michael Watkins said in a statement. “Now, 117 years later, we can provide a wonderful opportunity to share the results of our first controlled and motorized flight attempt in another world through our robotic photographers on Mars.”

This first black-and-white image from the helicopter’s navigation chamber is essential because “it will help us locate where the helicopter landed,” said Tim Canham, JPL’s leader in ingenious operations.

Grip, the main pilot of Ingenuity, will analyze the first data returned from the helicopter to determine if it successfully lifted, floated, turned and landed.

“The main goal of this project is to get detailed technical data that allows you to see the performance of the vehicle, and then that data can be used by future projects to build even bigger and better helicopters,” Canham said.

Future flights

“From the first day of this project, our team had to overcome a wide range of seemingly insurmountable technical challenges,” Aung said. “I’ve come this far with an attitude of giving up, with many friends from many different technical disciplines and with an agency that likes to turn bizarre ideas into reality.”

After the first flight, Ingeniousness will have a “day off” to recharge using its solar panel. The team will use the data sent by the helicopter that week to plan its next flight.

Ingenuity will give people the first alien flight 4:10

The cadence between flights will be progressively shortened. The ingenuity could fly four days after the first flight, then three days after the second flight and so on. In the last flights, the helicopter rose up to 5 meters and made lateral movements of up to 15 meters back and forth.

“Once we get to the fourth and fifth flights, we’ll have fun,” Aung said. “We really want to push the boundaries. Not every day you can test a helicopter on Mars. That’s why we want to be very adventurous ».

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