Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
NASA back trying to fly helicopter Ingenuity of Mars, Monday (19/4).
Previously, NASA failed to fly the helicopter, possibly due to technical problems. The flight delays had been going on for more than a week.
The mini helicopter trip will be the first flight on another planet and is completely controlled from Earth. This mission will help NASA obtain invaluable data about conditions on Mars.
“NASA is targeting as soon as Monday, April 19, for the first flight of the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter,” the space agency reported Saturday.
The data will return to Earth, “hours after autonomous flight,” which will take off at about 3:30 am (07:30 GMT or 14:30 WIB), NASA said.
Ingenuity’s first trip was originally set for last Sunday (11/4). But flights were delayed after potential problems arose during the 1.8-kilogram rotor’s high-speed test.
NASA calls the unprecedented helicopter operation a very risky one. Flight on Mars is very challenging because of the different atmospheric conditions from Earth. The atmosphere of Mars is very thin, less than one percent of the pressure of the Earth’s atmosphere.
The helicopter arrived on Mars hitching a ride under the Perseverance rover, which landed on February 18.
After the helicopter flies, Ingenuity will send technical data from the results of the Perseverence exploration. The data will then be sent back to Earth.
The helicopter mission on Mars is equivalent to the first powered divider aircraft on Earth produced by the Wright brothers in 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA. A piece of cloth from the plane had been tucked inside Ingenuity in honor of the feat.
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