NASA Ingenuity Mars Helicopter: The Ingenuity Helicopter sent to Mars by NASA along with the Perseverance Rover has sent the initial status report to the US space agency. In a statement, the agency mentioned that the helicopter as effectively as its base station have been working as per the expectations. Ingenuity would continue to stay attached to the Perseverance Rover for the next 30 to 60 days. The base station is an electrical box placed on the rover, and this box shops as effectively as routes the communication amongst Ingenuity and the group monitoring it on Earth.
Ingenuity Mars Helicopter operations lead at NASA’s JPL Tim Canham mentioned that they have been seeking for two products in the information, one being the situation of the batteries of Ingenuity and the other being the confirmation that the base station was operating as per the style. Tim added that each of them had been working effectively, which was a positive report. The report was received on the intervening evening of February 19 and 20 (Indian time) and the group was scheduled to proceed with the charging of the helicopter’s batteries sometime on Saturday (US time).
If the Mars helicopter mission is to succeed, then it is essential that it has sufficient power to sustain essential functions, like heating, although also getting the optimal battery wellness, the agency added. The batteries have been to be charged for an hour on Saturday, which would increase the charge to about 30% of the total capacity, and in a handful of days, the batteries would once more be charged so that it reaches 35%. The helicopter would continue to be attached to the rover’s belly and be charged weekly as per the program in the coming weeks.
Notably, Ingenuity is not sent to Mars to carry out any scientific experiments like Perseverance. Instead, the 2 kg helicopter is an experiment in itself. If every thing goes as per planned, Ingenuity would come to be the initial helicopter to undertake controlled flight on one more planet. The test flight, which would require to be performed inside 31 Earth days or 30 Martian days following it has been deployed on the surface by Perseverance, is the only mission meant for Ingenuity and it is entirely independent of the investigation that the rover would undertake. However, for that to take place, Ingenuity would initial require to survive the chilling nights that Mars has, exactly where temperatures can dip down to levels as low as -90 degrees Celsius.
Once Ingenuity requires its initial flight and is in a position to hover, the agency mentioned that 90% of its mission would succeed. If it is in a position to land appropriately and stay operational following that, it would be in a position to try up to 4 more flights, with every single one creating up on the preceding one.