The reason for the flight delay is that during Friday’s check of the high-speed rotor speed, the control device previously terminated the sequence of commands controlling the test. This happened when the flight computer was to switch from pre-flight mode to flight mode. But according to NASA, the helicopter is fine and safe. He also sent a complete set of telemetry data to Earth.
Ingenuities the size of a small drone landed on Mars on February 18, stored in the bowels of a NASA Perseverance robotic vehicle. But it has a separate program. It is not equipped with any scientific instruments, its only task is to test the possibility of using similar flying devices in the future when examining the surface of extraterrestrial bodies.
The helicopter successfully completed all the steps preceding the first flight. A week ago, she gradually got from the rover to the surface of the planet and then survived the first frosty Martian night unscathed. During the week, she then developed her two rotors and successfully rotated them in a test run. Its own solar panels are also in order, which provide it with energy that must, among other things, heat the devices on cold nights. The temperature on the side facing away from the Sun can drop to minus ninety degrees Celsius on Mars.
Ingenuity is very light, weighing only 1.8 kilograms. Its carbon-fiber rotors rotate against each other, and to take off in the sparse atmosphere of the red planet, they must develop a speed of 2400 rpm, which is significantly more than they need to fly a helicopter on Earth.
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