Commands will need to be sent well in advance, with engineering data coming back from the spacecraft long after each flight takes place. Communication delays are an inherent part of working with spacecraft across interplanetary distances. In addition, flight controllers at JPL won’t be able to control the helicopter with a joystick. While Ingenuity’s team on Earth has tested the helicopter at Martian temperatures and believes it should work on Mars as intended, the cold will push the design limits of many of Ingenuity’s parts. Nights there dip down to minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius). It can also be bone-chillingly cold at Jezero Crater, where Perseverance will land with Ingenuity attached to its belly. Because the Mars atmosphere is 99% less dense than Earth’s, Ingenuity has to be light, with rotor blades that are much larger and spin much faster than what would be required for a helicopter of Ingenuity’s mass on Earth. What makes it hard for a helicopter to fly on Mars? For one thing, Mars’ thin atmosphere makes it difficult to achieve enough lift. Ingenuity is first aircraft to attempt controlled flight on another planet Ingenuity doesn’t carry science instruments and is a separate experiment from the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. It also has innovative solar cells, batteries, and other components. Ingenuity features four specially made carbon-fiber blades, arranged into two rotors that spin in opposite directions at around 2,400 rpm – many times faster than a passenger helicopter on Earth. Previous groundbreaking technology demonstrations include the Mars Pathfinder rover Sojourner and the tiny Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats that flew by Mars in 2018. Ingenuity is what is known as a technology demonstration – a project that seeks to test a new capability for the first time, with limited scope.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |