HOUSTON (CNN) – The helicopter, the ingenious and the travel companion of NASA’s Perseverance rover, checked in with a good report and “works as expected”, according to the agency.
If successful, Ingeniousness will be the first helicopter to fly to another planet, leading to a “Wright Brothers alien moment,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate director of NASA’s Scientific Mission Directorate.
The rover landed safely on the surface of Mars on Thursday, after launching from Earth on July 30. Perseverance has already sent an impressive set of images to show that she is safe and ready to go through a “checkout” phase before starting the journey on the surface. .
Now, the mission team heard directly from the helicopter for the first time – and that’s good news.
The ingenuity is currently hidden under the rover and attached to the belly of Perseverance. The rover is the size of an SUV, while the helicopter weighs only about 4 kilograms.
The helicopter was able to call home via the rover, sending data back through the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which acts as a communications relay between Mars and Earth and has been orbiting the red planet since 2006.
The ingenuity is comfortable where it is and does not give up the rover soon for a test flight. The helicopter will be fine with the rover for 30 to 60 days.
“The ingenuity, the Mars helicopter I’m carrying, works as expected. I’m currently loading it, but once I put it down, it will only rely on its solar panels. If it survives the brutal cold Martian nights, the team will try to flight “, read a tweet from the Twitter perseverance account.
The ingenuity, the Mars helicopter I carry, works as expected. I’m currently charging it, but once I put it down, it will only rely on its solar panels. If he survives the brutal cold Martian nights, the team will try the flight. https://t.co/8pksN06ZwP#CountdownToMarspic.twitter.com/80kEoww0QU
– Perseverance NASA Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) February 20, 2021
“We are looking in the data for two items with big tickets: the state of charge of the Ingenuity batteries, as well as the confirmation that the base station works as designed, ordering the heaters to stop and start to keep the helicopter electronics within the expected limit. range, “Tim Canham said in a statement, leading operations on the Ingenuity Mars helicopter at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“Both seem to be working great. With this positive report, we will continue to charge (Saturday) the helicopter’s batteries.”
Ingeniousness must fuel and store energy so that it can stay warm and maintain other vital functions during the cold nights of Mars, once the rover lays the helicopter on the surface of the red planet. Then the ingenuity will be on its own.
And it will have to withstand nights when temperatures can drop to negative to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. As Elton John sings in “Rocket Man,” Mars is indeed as cold as hell.
Maintaining function and battery health will be essential if the helicopter survives the cold Martian climate before attempting test flights later. A total of five test flights are planned over a period of 31 days, once the rover finds the right “heliport” or a nice flat seat to submit ingenuity.
As long as ingenuity is attached to Perseverance, the helicopter can give its batteries a boost. The helicopter has six lithium-ion batteries. Once detached from the rover, those batteries will be charged by the helicopter’s solar panel.
The first flight of ingenuity will be short, just about 20 seconds floating from the ground. But it will be a historic moment. Like the first Martian rover, the Sojourner, ingenuity is a technological demonstration – an experiment. Demonstrating that this concept can work could lead to the development of rotorcraft that could act as explorers for both rovers and human missions to Mars in the future.
If the first flight is successful, “over 90% of the project’s objectives will have been achieved,” according to NASA.
Subsequent flights may take longer and test more of the helicopter’s capabilities. It has two rooms that can provide aerial images. Perseverance will also train its cameras on ingenuity to capture the attractions and sounds, including video, of these historic flights.
“We are in unexplored territory, but this team is used to it,” MiMi Aung, project manager for JPL’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter, said in a statement. “Almost every landmark from here to the end of our flight demonstration program will be a premiere and everyone must succeed for us to move on to the next one. We’ll enjoy this good news for now, but then we need to get back to work. “
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