NASA’s Ingenuity mini-helicopter, which arrived in Mars in February, attached to the bottom of the Perseverance rover, has just separated from the vehicle and is already on the surface of the red planet, the US space agency announced.
“Confirmed landing of the Mars helicopter!” Tweeted the NASA laboratory responsible for the mission on Saturday night (3).
This ultralight helicopter, similar to a large drone, arrived folded and attached to the Perseverance, which landed on Mars on February 18, where it remained until the rover reached the place where the flight should take place.
“Its 293 million mile (471 million km) journey came to an end with this small 4-inch (10 cm) jump from the rover’s belly to the surface of Mars today. Next challenge: survive the night,” the lab tweeted. .
A photo accompanying the tweet showed Perseverance moving away from the helicopter. The robot should leave the horizon clear for the helicopter in less than 25 hours, as Ingenuity needs the sun to power its solar panels with energy and survive by warming up during the freezing nights of Mars.
So far, Ingenuity has used the power of the rover, but from now on it should go it alone.
“There is a small radiator that allows you to keep the interior at around 45 ° F (7 ° Celsius) in the freezing cold of the Martian night, where temperatures can drop to -130 ° F (-90 ° Celsius),” explained Bob Balaram, chief engineer of the Mars Helicopter project.
“This makes it possible to protect the key components” of the device, he added.
Over the next two days, the ground crew will verify that the solar panels are working as planned and then begin testing the engines and sensors before the first flight, which is not expected to take place before April 11.
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