Sorry to drone on and on but have you heard of Ingenuity? NASA's camera-copter is ready to head off to Mars
- Reference: 1593064866
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/06/25/nasa_mars_helicopter/
- Source link:
[1]Ingenuity measures 1.2 metres (4ft) across, and is neatly folded and stowed away underneath [2]Perseverance . The flying gizmo weighs just under two kilograms (4lb), and sports two rotor blades, a solar panel, an antenna, a computer system, cameras, and batteries.
NASA scientists have concluded tests to make sure the drone is able to detach itself from the Martian trundle bot and fly away once they are deployed on the Red Planet. A NASA video showing off Ingenuity is below.
[3]Youtube Video
"Ingenuity is unlike any other helicopter ever built because powered controlled flight at Mars is unlike anything ever attempted," [4]said MiMi Aung, project manager of the Mars Helicopter at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, on Tuesday. "And then we had to figure out how to hitch a ride and safely get deployed from the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover."
Chris Salvo, the helicopter’s interface lead, added: "The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is a large, fragile, unique assemblage of hardware that is dissimilar to anything NASA has ever accommodated on a planetary mission."
Deploying it will be tricky: when a protective shield falls away and Ingenuity is dropped to the Martian surface from Perseverance's belly, it'll have just 12 centimetres of clearance space from the rover. The bot will then roll on, freeing Ingenuity to take to the skies.
"That is not a lot of room to play with," said Salvo, "but we found if you attach the helicopter horizontally, there is enough to get the job done."
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Light-powered nanocardboard robots dancing in the Martian sky searching for alien life [5]READ MORE
Ingenuity will be released about two months after Perseverance lands on the Red Planet in February next year – once a flat enough piece of terrain is found. The helicopter is the first gizmo of its kind to fly on any extraterrestrial planet, and is highly experimental – ie: it may break quickly. It will be used to scout out terrain ahead of the rover, and take photos of sites of interest with 90-second flights between recharges from its solar panels.
The Americans reckon future missions to Mars may carry larger, more powerful helicopters that could aid astronauts or even explore potentially more dangerous sites such as cliffs, caves, or craters. “But before any of that happens, a test vehicle has to prove it's possible,” the boffins said.
NASA has a small window of about two months to send Perseverance and Ingenuity off to Mars. It [6]announced on Thursday it had pushed back the launch date by two days, and is now targeting July 22 to send both vehicles into space atop an Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. ®
Sponsored: [7]The Forrester New Wave™: Public Cloud Enterprise Container Platforms, Q3 2019
[1] https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/18/nasa_to_send_perseverance_a/
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5ehz7pHprk
[4] https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7684
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/04/23/nanocardboard_mars_robots/
[6] https://blogs.nasa.gov/kennedy/2020/06/24/mars-2020-mission-now-targeted-for-july-22-launch/
[7] https://go.theregister.com/tl/1956/-8475/the-forrester-new-wave-public-cloud-enterprise-container-platforms-q3-2019?td=wptl1956
Mars NIMBY types...
Let's hope Mars NIMBY types aren't lying in wait, ready to shoot it down on its inaugural flight.
If there are any aliens on Mars living a quiet life, we'll soon know about it.
Why
Didn't they put in on the top?
Re: Why
My first thought too.
I can only assume (without any other knowledge of the Perseverence mission) that the top of the lander is covered with other instrumentation: cameras, solar panels etc, that are of higher priority to the mission overall than an experimental minor element.
As such they've had to come up with an inventive alternative solution (aka a bodge) in order to add the drone to the mission.
Re: Why
too much very important stuff up there that could get damaged if the takeoff somehow went bad for any reason.
Such cool toys
Me envious, what gave it away :)
Braingasm
has it been registered with Martian authorities?
If they get the camera, the background view and the light just right, the first flight video could become as iconic as the liftoff from the moon.
" If they get the camera, the background view and the light just right , the first flight video could become as iconic as the liftoff from the moon."
Like, in a studio environment or something?
I wish them the best of luck on the landing and deployment, once that is done the adventure can begin.
I can't wait to see the first footage of a successful flight.