A Wright Brothers Moment On Mars: NASA Successfully Flies Ingenuity On Mars
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The drone, called Ingenuity, was airborne for less than a minute, but it is the first powered, controlled flight by an aircraft on another world. Ingenuity was carried to Mars in the belly of Nasa’s Perseverance Rover, which touched down on the Red Planet in February. This successful attempt means that a further four flights will be attempted over the coming days, each one taking the helicopter further afield, in the video published on April 19, 2021 “Nasa successfully flies small helicopter on Mars – BBC News“, below:
The first helicopter flight on Mars was a success as Ingenuity took flight in martian airspace. NASA scientists explain how this successful mission will change the future of exploration on the red planet. Jonathan Vigliotti reports, in the video published on April 19, 2021, “NASA celebrates success of Ingenuity’s historic first flight on Mars“, below:
Space enthusiasts around the world are buzzing about the newest images beamed back to Earth from Mars after Monday’s pioneering mini-helicopter flight on the Red Planet. NBC’s Tom Costello covers space and aviation, in the video published on April 20, 2021, “NASA Shares New Details About Historic Mars Helicopter Flight, TODAY“, below:
On April 19, 2021 NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter made successful test flight on Mars and sent onboard camera images while flying. Perseverance Mars Rover recorded full frame video of helicopter’s successful lift off and landing on the surface of Red Planet. For the first flight, the helicopter took off a few feet from the ground, hover in the air for about 20 to 30 seconds, and land. It was the very first powered flight in the extremely thin atmosphere of Mars. After that, the team will attempt additional experimental flights of incrementally farther distance and greater altitude. After the helicopter completes its technology demonstration, Perseverance will continue its scientific mission. Interesting fact that Ingenuity was turning during flight. That is amazing! In video there is an answer. NASA also demonstrated detailed reconstruction of Ingenuity’s first flight by animation. Credit: nasa.gov, NASA/JPL-Caltech, NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU, in the video published on April 19, 2021, “Ingenuity Helicopter turning while flying on Mars (full frame video)“, below:
290 million kilometers away NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has taken the first step towards a new type of space exploration. Hovering 3 meters above the Martian surface before rotating 90 degrees and safely landing – this was the first powered flight on another planet. In this video we explore the challenges of this achievement and ask what it means for the future of space exploration. Sign up for the Nature Briefing: An essential round-up of science news, opinion and analysis, free in your inbox every weekday: https://go.nature.com/371OcVF, in the video published on April 20, 2021, “Flying a helicopter on Mars: NASA’s Ingenuity“, below:
To better understand Ingenuity, please refer to the excerpt from wikipedia, in italics, below:
Ingenuity is a small robotic helicopter located on Mars since 18 February 2021. It successfully completed the first powered controlled flight by an aircraft on any planet besides Earth on 19 April 2021, taking off vertically, hovering and landing.[9][10] The small helicopter rose 3 m (9.8 ft), hovered there for about 30 seconds, before returning to the surface of Mars with a total flight time of 39.1 seconds.[11]
Part of NASA‘s Mars 2020 mission, the small coaxial, drone rotorcraft is serving as a technology demonstrator for the potential use of flying probes on other worlds, and will have the potential to scout locations of interest and support the future planning of driving routes for Mars rovers.[12][13][1] Ingenuity was attached to the underside of the Perseverance rover when it landed. It deployed on 3 April 2021,[5][6][7] about 60 days after Perseverance‘s landing at the Octavia E. Butler Landing site in Jezero crater. After unloading the drone, the Perseverance rover drove approximately 100 m (330 ft) away to allow it a safe “buffer zone” in which it made its first flight.[14][15] First takeoff was on 19 April 2021 at 07:15 UTC, with livestreaming 3 hours later at 10:15 UTC confirming the flight.[16][17][18][19][20][21]
Ingenuity is expected to fly up to five times during its 30-day test campaign scheduled early in the rover’s mission. Primarily technology demonstrations,[1][22] each flight is planned to fly at altitudes ranging from 3–5 m (10–16 ft) above the ground for up to 90 seconds each.[1] Ingenuity, which can travel up to 50 m (160 ft) downrange and then back to the starting area,[1] will use autonomous control during its short flights, which will be telerobotically planned and scripted by operators at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It will communicate directly with the Perseverance rover after each landing. Its rotor blades were successfully unlocked on 8 April 2021, days after it detached from Perseverance.[23][24]
If Ingenuity works as expected, NASA may build on its design to extend the aerial component of future Mars missions.[25] Dave Lavery is the program executive for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, MiMi Aung is the project manager, and Bob Balaram is Chief Engineer.[26] Other contributors include AeroVironment, Inc., the NASA Ames Research Center, and the NASA Langley Research Center.[27]
Ingenuity carries a piece of fabric from the wing of the 1903 Wright Flyer, the Wright Brothers‘ airplane, humanity’s first controlled powered flight on Earth, and its take-off and landing area has been named Wright Brothers Field.
Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com
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