NASA's 'ingenuity' helicopter to soar over Mars

Variety
24-03-2021 | 12:00
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NASA's 'ingenuity' helicopter to soar over Mars
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NASA's 'ingenuity' helicopter to soar over Mars
NASA on Tuesday previewed the landmark planned flight of its "Ingenuity" helicopter on Mars, which will see an aircraft fly on another planet for the first time.
 

At a press conference at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, NASA scientists said the launch of Ingenuity would be the end of a difficult journey that has taken six years.

The Ingenuity landed on Mars on February 18th, attached to the NASA's Perseverance rover, the most advanced astrobiology lab ever sent to another world.

The perseverance is on a mission to search for traces of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet.

Perseverance is currently headed to an 'airfield' on Mars which it will deploy Ingenuity, NASA said in a press release.

The helicopter's first flight will take place at some point after April 8th following an intricate setup protocol to deploy and charge Ingenuity that will take about 6 earth days.

The four pound (1.8 kilogram) helicopter, which has two four foot counter-rotating blades and a solar panel for power on its roof, will fly for a total of 31 earth days, or 30 Martian 'sols'.

Ingenuity carries a piece of flight history with it to Mars. Attached to the small helicopter is a piece of fabric from the wing of the Wright Brother's Flyer, which carried out the first controlled flight on earth in 1903, NASA said.

Flying on the Red Planet presented significant engineering challenges because of Mars' low gravity and the fact that its atmosphere is only 1 percent of the density of earth's. Ingenuity will continually take photos of the surface below to establish its position and carry out the instructions of NASA engineers directing it from earth.

 
 
REUTERS

 

 

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