In light of the highly successful and sustained flight of the NASA Ingenuity Mars helicopter, engineers turned their attention to the future airship for the Red Planet.
One such concept is the Mars Science Helicopter, which was advocated as a way to expand the exploration zone on Mars including the possibility of diving deep into the Red Planet’s caves.
Researchers have gathered a wealth of technical information from Ingenuity’s extraterrestrial flight, continuing to push its capabilities. Now they want to use that data to drive the development of a new air system for the Mars probe.
“Intelligence is a technology demonstrator. Our core goal, our primary direction, is to prove that we can fly on Mars to have a Wright Brothers moment for the first time and hopefully open the door to future exploration capabilities on the Red Planet,” said Ingenuity’s head of operations. Theodore Tzanetos of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California.
Tzanetos provided an overview of Ingenuity’s flights to date and previews of future sorties, and he also explained the basics of a possible advanced Mars probe.
He spoke during the June 21 virtual meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG), which is responsible for providing NASA with the science input it needs to plan and prioritize Mars exploration activities.
Tzanetos said the research involved JPL, AeroVironment, Inc., NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, Qualcomm, NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, and SolAero.
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Since Ingenuity’s first flight on April 19, “we’ve amassed a treasure trove of engineering data,” says Tzanetos.
“Every flight after is built on success [pertama] that.” He continued
Ingenuity made its debut flight in April, about 30 seconds from takeoff to landing. The tiny helicopter gained four additional flights over the next few weeks, completing its original technology demonstration mission in early May.
Since then, the craft has flown in an extended mission phase designed to demonstrate the reconnaissance potential of a Mars helicopter. The plan requires flying about twice a month, with a smaller operator team on Earth.
“The focus is on trying and being as efficient as possible,” Tzanetos said during his MEPAG talk.
“We’re really starting to stretch our wings, so to speak, in distance, flight time and height above ground.” added
Meanwhile, the flight of the Mars air engine has resulted in another first. One of them is the use of helicopter navigation imagery combined with NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image from Jezero Crater, where Ingenuity landed on NASA’s Perseverance rover in February.
Doing so shows that Ingenuity is capable of producing high-resolution imagery in the field. For example, Ingenuity operators discovered, after the fact, that a color image of the geological unit Séítah Jezero over a stretch of sandy terrain that Perseverance found difficult to traverse.
The cunning controllers ultimately wanted to push flights covering 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) of each ground, which would require the helicopter to stay aloft for up to three minutes.
“That will really push the limits of this technology demonstrator’s capabilities in terms of flying vehicles,” said Tzanetos.
As for the future of the Mars rotorcraft, one idea on the table is the next-generation six-rotor “hexacopter” platform.
“We call it the Mars Science Helicopter,” says Tzanetos
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Now being rated is a science payload at 4-lb. for 11-lb. range (1.8 to 5 kilograms) carried by a hexacopter that can sail about 6 miles (10 km) per flight.
“We can get to locations that are inaccessible to explorers, such as cliff walls or difficult terrain, or even descend into caves,” added Tzanetos.
In addition, there is the ability to adapt the science mission of the aircraft to carry different payload masses, adjusting hover times and flight ranges, he said.
“We are open to new ideas and concepts. Enter your mission with your favorite concept for a future rotorcraft on Mars,” Tzanetos told MEPAG attendees.
(arisn/FBC)
Editor : Good Fit
Author : Aris N
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