Ingenuity is the name of a small helicopter – an unmanned drone that was transported to Mars by the Perseverance rover. This one landed on the Red Planet on February 18.
First, the drone, which was attached in a protective capsule at the bottom of the rover, was lowered very slowly to the ground. Last week, the propellers were tested, initially with a speed of 50 revolutions per minute, and then 2.4 thousand. revolutions per minute.
The first flight of the drone was planned on April 11, then NASA postponed the launch to April 14, then it was announced that the delay would be even longer. But the Martian helicopter successfully took off over the surface of Mars on Monday, after 2 p.m. 12 Polish time.
It was the first motorized flight over the surface of a planet other than Earth. The device rose 3 meters high, hovered in the air for 30 seconds, and landed. NASA is planning further, longer flights over the planet.
The flight of the drone took place automatically, but NASA engineers had to take several factors into account. Ingenuity cannot fly at night, because in navigation it consists in observing the ground through cameras. Another challenge is the need to coordinate the experiment with the research conducted by the Perseverance rover. Energy consumption and Martian winds are also important. The distance between Mars and Earth is also problematic. Data from devices is transferred with a long delay.
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Source: PAP, Onet
(mba)
Creation date: April 19, 2021, 11:59
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