“The launch of a Martian helicopter has been confirmed. Its 471-kilometer journey aboard the Perseverance ended in a ten-centimeter fall from the spacecraft’s belly to the surface of Mars. The next target? To survive Mars Night,” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said.
On Mars, temperatures drop to -90 degrees at night, and now the helicopter needs to survive and stay warm on its own. This has so far been arranged by the rover Perseverance. We’ll wait a little longer for the flight attempt itself.
The helicopter must still be charged, communication with the rover and the operation center on Earth must be tested. JPL engineers will check the energy for several days, whether the battery is charging, whether the solar panels are working properly and how much the helicopter will consume.
The team will then unlock the rotor and perform several of its tests on the surface. Only then could the helicopter try to fly through the sparse atmosphere of Mars.
Ingenuities on the surface of Mars:
The Ingenuity Project is a separate part of the Mars 2020 mission. The helicopter reached the surface of the Red Planet along with Perseverance. The probe’s landing was very daring, as NASA was landing on a planet without a stop in orbit.
You can watch TV Nova’s report on the Ingenuity helicopter here:
– .
