NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter is preparing for its 14th flight over the Red Planet, but Mars’ thin air makes such a surprise attack all the more difficult.
The next attack, which could happen at any moment now, was a direct jump compared to some of the other attacks Brave expedition This creativity he created to help members of the mission team on NASA’s persistent rover He said in the last update. There’s a good reason for its simplicity: The 4-pound (1.8 kg) helicopter will test higher rotor rotational speeds to see if it can continue to fly in Mars’ rapidly changing seasonal weather conditions.
Itinerary requires ingenuity For takeoff, climb up to 16 feet (5 meters) and perform sideways maneuvers before landing. The flight was originally supposed to take place no later than September 17, but that would depend on the mission team’s readiness for the occasion. Updates will be posted on Official Twitter feed for Serverance Where further developments can be reported.
Related: Watch NASA’s Creative Helicopters Explore the Exciting Edge of Mars
A short test flight, whenever it occurs, is expected to include a rotor speed of approximately 2,700 revolutions per minute (RPM), assuming a ground test of a 2,800-rpm rotation is planned. (for comparison, before Mars The experiment had a flying power of about 2,537 rpm.) The engineers hoped that the higher rotation rate would allow the drone to fly despite the thinner atmospheric density.
“It’s actually getting harder [to fly] Every day: I talk about the density of the atmosphere, which has been very low and is now receding due to the changing seasons on Mars,” aviator Havard Gripp, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, wrote in an update.
Greeb explains that the Ingenuity flight campaign is designed to last only a few months after that determination The mission landed inside Jezero Crater on Mars in February. Creativity far exceeded expectations and is still flying, testing how helicopters could serve as scouts for traveling vehicles or maybe even human missions.
But creativity is not designed to change seasonal conditions. Initially, the density of the atmosphere at Jezero Crater was about 1.2% to 1.5% that of Earth. But density is now close to 1% during the preferred hours of daylight for flight, when higher currents cause less instability for low-flying drones.
“NS [atmospheric] The difference may seem small, but it has a huge impact on creativity’s ability to fly,” explains Greeb. The margin for creative propulsion, or the extra propulsion a drone delivers above what is required to fly, has decreased over time atmosfer Mars Easy. If the density of the atmosphere drops too much, perhaps creativity is approaching a halt in the atmosphere.
“Fortunately, there is a way around this problem – but it involves turning the rotor faster than we have done so far,” Gripe continues. “In fact, they should spin much faster than we previously tried with Ingenuity or our experimental helicopter on Earth. This is not something we take lightly, which is why our upcoming Mars operation will focus on testing higher rotors carefully. speed in preparation for future flights. “.
The creative team will look for some potential problems. One is that higher revolutions per minute, combined with wind and helicopter movement, can cause the propellers to hit the atmosphere at Mach 0.8, or 80% of the speed of sound. (NS Speed of sound On Mars it is only three-quarters on Earth, due to the low density of the red planet’s atmosphere.)
“If the blade heads were close enough to the speed of sound, they would see a very large increase in aerodynamic drag that would prevent flight,” Gripp said. “For the Ingenuity rotor, we didn’t expect to find this phenomenon even higher than Mach numbers, but it has never been confirmed in field testing.”
Engineers will also be aware of the potential for resonance that could cause the helicopter to vibrate at certain frequencies, which at worst could “cause hardware damage and lower sensor readings required by the flight control system,” Grip said. Other considerations would include the more power required from the electrical system and the higher load required by the rotor system.
“This all adds up to significant challenges, but by taking matters slowly and methodically, we hope to scan the entire system at higher rotor speeds and allow Ingenuity to continue flying in the coming months,” Gripp said. “Wait for updates.”
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