WASHINGTON DC, KOMPAS.com – NASA announced that it was delaying its first flight helicopter mini on Planet Mars.
Launch AFP, Saturday (10/4/2021), the delay will last for several days. The delay was related to technical problems when testing the propeller.
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Helicopter named Ingenuity it plans to make its maiden flight on Red Planet on Sunday (11/4/2021).
Ingenuity is expected to fly for 30 seconds to take pictures of the rover rides Perseverance which landed on Mars on 18 February.
The mini helicopter was brought by Perseverance to Mars and placed at the bottom of the rover.
However, due to technical issues, the mini helicopter flight was delayed until at least April 14, according to a statement from NASA on Saturday.
Also read: Perseverance Collects First Sample on Mars, Reveals Past Life of the Red Planet
The high-speed test on the helicopter’s 1.8-kilogram propeller on Friday ended early due to warnings about potential problems.
“The team is currently reviewing telemetry to diagnose and understand the problem. After that, they will reschedule the full speed test,” NASA said in a statement.
Nevertheless, NASA noted that the helicopter was in safe condition and had sent the information back to Earth.
NASA said the Ingenuity flight attempt was the first helicopter flight attempt on Mars and was very risky.
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However, if the flight is successful, it will be able to retrieve very valuable data regarding the condition of Mars.
Due to differences in gravity and atmosphere with Earth, Ingenuity on Mars has to rotate its propeller blades much faster than helicopters on Earth need to fly.
If later it manages to fly for the first time, Ingenuity will send Perseverance technical data about what it has done. And the information will be sent back to Earth.
The data also includes black and white photographs of the Martian surface programmed to be taken by Ingenuity while flying.
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A day later, when the battery is recharged, Ingenuity will send you another color photo of the Martian horizon, which was taken by a different camera.
If the flight plan succeeds, NASA plans to make another flight no later than four days later.
After that, NASA hopes to make the mini helicopter fly five meters and then move sideways.
The Mars flight mission is equivalent to the Wright brothers’ first flight on Earth in 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States (US).
A piece of cloth from the Wright brothers’ airplane has been tucked inside Ingenuity in honor of that achievement.
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