Ingeunity will now remain firmly entrenched on the surface of the Red Planet until at least Wednesday 14 April 2021.
READ: Ingenuity Helicopters Contact Earth After Landing on Mars
The delay came in response to an anomaly during testing meant to see the helicopter blades reach speeds like flying 2,400 rounds per minute.
“During the high-speed spin test of the rotor on Friday, the command sequence controlling the test ended early due to an expired watchdog timer,” NASA officials wrote in a statement. Space, Sunday (11/4/2021).
“This happened when we tried to switch the flight computer from ‘Pre-Flight’ mode to ‘Flight’ mode. Helicopter it is safe and controlled and communicates its full telemetry to Earth, “the statement continued.
NASA added that helicopter technicians are still reviewing data from the small helicopter to understand exactly what happened.
The team also hopes to be able to reschedule failed tests soon.
READ ALSO: Earth Almost Lost All Oxygen 23 Billion Years Ago
The small helicopter arrived at the surface of Mars on February 18. Transported to the Red Planet as a technology demonstration project by the rover Perseverance.
After Perseverance was at his landing site in Jezero Crater, he began searching for an airfield for the helicopter’s historic flight Ingeunity .
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