Mars first flight of helicopter “Ingenuity” earliest Monday

The next attempt to start is for early Monday morning The next attempt at launch was scheduled for early Monday morning (6.30 a.m. CEST), announced the US space agency Nasa. This attempt could also be postponed at short notice.

The first flight of the small helicopter “Ingenuity”, which landed on board the rover “Perseverance” on Mars in February, was previously planned for April 11th, then postponed to April 14th and then again due to technical problems been. NASA engineers are currently working on a solution to problems with the helicopter’s computer software, NASA said. The helicopter, which is powered by lithium-ion batteries, is basically ready for use and in good condition.

The 1.8 kilogram “Ingenuity” (in German: ingenuity) is to rise in its first test flight to a height of about three meters, hover there for thirty seconds and then land again on the surface of Mars. It would be the first flight of an aircraft on another planet.

The helicopter has to defy extreme conditions: On Mars it is cold down to minus 90 degrees at night, the gravitational pull of the planet is lower and the atmosphere is much thinner. The mini-helicopter was placed in the belly of “Perseverance” at the end of February – after 203 days of flight and 472 million kilometers traveled – with a risky maneuver in a dry Martian lake called “Jezero Crater”. “Perseverance” will investigate this lake with a diameter of around 45 kilometers over the next two years.