This is what a small Ingenuity helicopter looks like during flight. (drawing) – HANDOUT / NASA / JPL-CALTECH / AFP
Mini helicopter from NASA Ingenuity, which arrived in February
March tied under the muggers
Persistence, just got separated from it and because it is now on the surface of the red planet, NASA announced. This ultralight helicopter, which looks like a large drone, is folded and strapped under the Perseverance Rover, which landed on Mars on February 18, and remained there until the Rover reached where the theft was supposed to occur.
The 471 million mile (471 million km) journey ends in a tiny 10 cm jump from the belly of the car to the surface of Mars. Next test: good night, ”tweeted the NASA lab. A photo accompanying the tweet shows Diligence walking away from the helicopter. He literally had to clear his sight in less than 25 hours, because the helicopter would need the sun to supply energy to the solar panels and thus be able to survive by warming himself during the cold Martian nights.
#MarsHelicopter touch confirmed! It travels 291 million miles (471 million km) on the boat @NAS_Indonesia ends with a final drop of 10 centimeters from the belly of the bar to the surface of Mars. The next milestone? Good night. https://t.co/TNCdXWcKWE pic.twitter.com/XaBiSNebua
– NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) 4 April 2021
A few more days before the first flight
The speed so far had fed Rover’s energy, but now he had to fend for himself. “There is a small radiator that allows to maintain a temperature of around 7 ° C in the helicopter, while the night on Mars can drop to -90 °,” explained Bob Balaram, Mars Helicopter chief engineer, Friday. -project. .
“This helps protect the lock hardware of the device,” he added. Ground crews will verify over the next two days that the solar panels are working as intended, before cars and sensors start testing before the first flight, which is expected to take place only on April 11.
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