YazataMay 12, 2018 07:52 PM (This post was last modified: May 13, 2018 03:22 AM by Yazata.)
It's a tiny four pound (1.8 kg) autonomous flying robot "drone" with two counter-rotating rotors that rotate 3,000 rpm, 10x faster than helicopter blades on Earth. The little drone will have two cameras and will be able to download its photos to and receive commands from the accompanying Mars2020 rover which is in communication with Earth. I guess that it will scout out the best path for the rover and look down at hard to reach spots from above. It appears to be electrically powered and rechargeable.
The light weight and rapidly rotating blades are necessary because Mars' atmosphere is so thin. The autonomous operation is necessary since Mars is so far away that real-time remote control is impossible.
In fact nobody really knows whether a helicopter will work in the thin atmosphere on Mars, but NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been experimenting with the idea, trying to see if they could make it work in simulated Mars conditions.
The plan seems to be to carry it underneath the upcoming Mars2020 rover scheduled to launch in June 2020. When the rover is safely sitting on Mars surface, it will kind of drop the little drone like a turd, then blithely roll away. Then the drone proceeds to unfold and prepares to fly. Even if the helicopter fails, which remains a very real possibility, the Mars2020 rover should still work as planned.
(If local Martians see all that, they might conclude that the Mars2020 rover has given birth and that helicopters are the larval forms of rovers.)
C CMay 13, 2018 07:49 AM (This post was last modified: May 13, 2018 07:52 AM by C C.)
(May 12, 2018 07:52 PM)Yazata Wrote: Even if the helicopter fails, which remains a very real possibility, the Mars2020 rover should still work as planned.
Despite all their attempts to protect the motors and electronics from the extreme cold and other hostile conditions of Mars, it seems a stretch that such a such small package will last very long or even get out of the starting gate without damaging itself. Doubtless the next version will be improved, though, just via learning what failed with this one (granting it can send enough telemetry data about its condition).
Quote:(If local Martians see all that, they might conclude that the Mars2020 rover has given birth and that helicopters are the larval forms of rovers.)
Long since having become Ascended Beings, but still hanging around invisibly and wondering what the heck's been falling from the sky for over four decades.
I barely remember those "Martian Chronicles" stories of Ray Bradbury, but vaguely seems like those Barsoomian knock-offs were kinda' shy about coming out of the woodwork, too.
YazataApr 30, 2021 09:10 PM (This post was last modified: Apr 30, 2021 09:16 PM by Yazata.)
The Mars Helicopter completed its fourth flight today. (Despite some lingering software problems.) Today it flew 133m/436 ft out, then back for a 266m/872ft round trip. They say that they directed it to save lots of photos that it took along the say. (Its navigation system steers photographically, but normally deletes the images unless told to save them.)
Ingenuity is performing so well that they are talking about extending its life. The original plan was to fly it for a month before Perseverance abandoned it and rolled off on its own mission. They obviously don't want to delay the Perseverance scientific investigations playing with the helicopter, but are talking about having the Mars chopper accompany Perseverance as long as its solar panel and systems hold out. It can obviously be useful scouting out paths for the rover and examining geological features from above.
In this JPL photo taken by Perseverance, the helicopter is the little dot outlined against the hill in the background, near the top and a little right of center
YazataSep 7, 2021 05:16 AM (This post was last modified: Sep 7, 2021 05:19 AM by Yazata.)
Ingenuity, the little Mars helicopter, was originally only planned for five flights. It's already taken 12, and nasa has just approved it to keep flying for as long as it can. The concern was that it might detract from Perseverance's own scientific mission, but Ingenuity has proven its worth as an adjunct to that. It's already proven useful scouting out the best path for Perseverance and locating the most interesting scientific features for the rover to visit.
So the Mars helicopter continues the JPL tradition of Mars vehicles that outperform. The Opportunity rover was designed for 90 days and lasted 15 years! Unfortunately there's a good chance that Ingenuity won't last nearly that long. While it's survived the Martian cold very well so far with its little solar powered heaters, the coming Martian winter may well be too much for it. But they are going to use it for as long as they can.
Aerial photo taken by Ingenuity (nasa photo, naturally)
YazataApr 28, 2022 03:23 AM (This post was last modified: Apr 28, 2022 03:35 AM by Yazata.)
It's a year later and the little Ingenuity Mars helicopter is still alive and still flying!
And it just photographed a crashed flying saucer on Mars! (Quiet down MR!)
It indeed came to Mars from another planet. It's the backshell that delivered Perseverance to Mars. The white thing above and to the right is the backshell's parachute.
The shell obviously hit the surface hard. That's because the Martian atmosphere is so thin that parachutes don't slow things down as much as here on Earth. They hit at about 5x the velocity. Which is why Perseverance had to detach itself and perform that crazy rocket-powered sky-crane landing.
YazataMar 15, 2023 04:08 AM (This post was last modified: Mar 15, 2023 04:33 AM by Yazata.)
April 19th will be second anniversary of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's first flight.
It isn't bad for a little technology demonstrator that was only expected to last for a few flights over maybe 30 days. Two years, and it's still going strong.
NASA/JPL has a history of building Mars vehicles that dramatically outperform. There's the little Opportunity rover, that was built for 90 days of life, but kept going like the energizer bunny of Mars for 15 years!
(Mar 15, 2023 04:08 AM)Yazata Wrote: April 19th will be second anniversary of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's first flight.
It isn't bad for a little technology demonstrator that was only expected to last for a few flights over maybe 30 days. Two years, and it's still going strong.
NASA/JPL has a history of building Mars vehicles that dramatically outperform. There's the little Opportunity rover, that was built for 90 days of life, but kept going like the energizer bunny of Mars for 15 years!
Hard to believe Opportunity was dropped on Mars in 2004, a year before the Huygens probe parachuted through Titan's atmosphere. The images and celebrations of memory seem more recent.
May 12, 2018 07:52 PM
(This post was last modified: May 13, 2018 03:22 AM by Yazata.)
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