Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
Artificial mini helicopter NASA, Ingenuity, is reported to have landed on Mars on Sunday (4/4). This landing is an important step for Ingenuity to continue its mission of exploring Mars.
Ingenuity is known to be in the stomach of the Perseverance robot that NASA sent to Mars. NASA said in its upload on Twitter that Ingenuity had explored 471 million kilometers with Perseverance.
Launch AFP, Ingenuity, get free energy while in the stomach of Perseverance. But after being separated, Ingenuity had to rely on its own batteries to run important components, namely heaters to protect electronic components from the cold temperatures at night on Mars.
“This heater makes the interior around 7 degrees Celsius on cold Mars nights, where temperatures can drop to –90 degrees Celsius. The convenience protects key components such as batteries and other extremely cold sensitive electronic equipment,” said Bob Balaram, the project’s chief engineer. Mars helicopters from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
In the next few days, the Ingenuity team will check if the solar panels are working properly to charge the battery before testing the propulsion motors and sensors ahead of the inaugural flight.
NASA announced Ingenuity’s first flight was expected to occur on April 11. This flight is not easy because the atmosphere on Mars is only about one percent of Earth’s.
The gravity of Mars, which is said to be only one-third of the Earth, is expected to help Ingenuity’s flight. However, it was a Perseverance landing in a wide area that could have been advantageous for Ingenuity’s first flight.
Ingenuity plans to make five flights each month with one of the missions to take photos. The 1.8-kilogram helicopter, which costs US $ 85 million, could become a study tool for the space exploration revolution.
(pjs / ugly)
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