Yesterday, April 16, on 154of Wilbur Wright’s birthday, the Ingenuity flight crew received information that the helicopter had managed to complete a rapid rotation test. Completing the rotation at full speed is an important step on the way to flight, as the team continues to work on the command sequence problem identified in Sol 49 (April 9).
How did I get to this stage? As with any engineering challenge, there are several approaches that are considered. In this case, the team worked on two potential solutions in parallel. The approach that led to today’s successful spin test involved adding a few commands to the flight sequence. This approach has been extensively tested on both Earth and Earth Mars, and was performed without endangering the safety of the helicopter. A second approach requires minor modifications and reinstallation of Ingenuity flight control software. Software exchange is a simple solution to a known problem. But, it will take a little longer to perform and it is a software change that has remained stable and unchanged for almost two years. Validation and testing took several days, and transferring and uploading these new files will take longer.
The NASA Perseverance Rover on Mars acquired this image of the Mars helicopter ingeniously using its left Mastcam-Z camera on April 16, 2021 (Sol 55). Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU
What approach to take? Later this evening, a decision-making meeting is scheduled to review all data from both solutions, including analysis, testing and validation efforts – both here at JPL and Mars. Then we will select the way forward for a first flight. We know that people are eager to find out the first flight date, so we will update this blog on Saturday morning if a decision is made on the flight date.
What I have learned from this experience is that working with any challenge means that all approaches, even those that may involve risks, should be considered. Without risk, there is no reward. Just ask the Wright brothers! Parallel work issues are the hallmark of so many engineering efforts and we are proud of what our team has accomplished this week. We’ll keep you posted on our progress toward the first propulsion flight to Mars.