Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
Artificial mini helicopter NASA, Ingenuity, has touched the surface of Mars on Sunday (4/4). This landing is an important step before helicopters explore Earth’s neighboring planet for the first time.
Previously, Ingenuity was always in the stomach of the Perseverance robot that NASA sent to Mars. NASA said in its upload on Twitter that Ingenuity had explored 471 million km with Perseverance.
The photo in the upload also shows Perseverance parking in a large area that could have benefited Ingenuity’s first flight.
While in the stomach of Perseverance, Ingenuity, get free energy. But after being separated, Ingenuity must rely on its own battery to run important components, namely heaters to protect electronic components from the cold temperatures at night on Mars.
“This heater makes the interior around 7 degrees Celsius on cold Mars nights, where temperatures can drop to –90 degrees Celsius. The convenience protects key components such as batteries and other extremely cold sensitive electronic equipment,” said Bob Balaram, the project’s chief engineer. a Mars helicopter from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory AFP.
Within days the Ingenuity team will check the solar panels are working properly then charge the batteries before testing the propulsion motors and sensors ahead of the first flight.
Ingenuity’s first flight is expected to try to fly first at least April 11. This flight is not easy because the atmosphere on Mars is only about one percent of Earth’s.
The gravity of Mars, which is said to be only one-third of the Earth, is expected to help Ingenuity’s flight.
Ingenuity plans to make five flights each month with one of the missions to take photos. The 1.8 kg helicopter, which costs US $ 85 million, could become a study tool for the space exploration revolution.
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