A blog upgrade for Ingenuity suggested that the altering seasons on Mars always present brand-new obstacles. In Jezero Crater, where the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter are located, its the end of summertime and the beginning of autumn. Not only does this imply a change in weather with more dust likely in the Martian air, but it likewise implies the engineering team for Ingenuity needs to customize how they fly, due to a reduction in air density.
Several images from the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) aboard NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) were used to create this view of a regional dust storm obscuring Syrtis Major and Jezero Crater (white circle).
A blog upgrade for Ingenuity suggested that the altering seasons on Mars constantly present brand-new difficulties. In Jezero Crater, where the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter lie, its the end of summertime and the start of autumn. Not only does this suggest a change in weather condition with more dust likely in the Martian air, however it also means the engineering team for Ingenuity requires to customize how they fly, due to a decline in air density.
” Weather forecasting has become an integral piece of Martian flight planning,” wrote Jonathan Bapst and Michael Mischna from the Ingenuity Weather/Environment Team.” As weather condition forecasters, our task is to offer an evaluation of present weather condition conditions against flight requirements.”
Favorable conditions for safe flying for Ingenuity hinge on two essential homes: air density and wind speed. The group relies information from a few different sources.
One is the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA)– an operating weather condition station aboard the Perseverance rover. With its suite of instruments, air density and procedure speeds can be determined throughout the day, permitting changes to be tracked.
Several images from the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) aboard NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) were utilized to create this view of a regional dust storm obscuring Syrtis Major and Jezero Crater (white circle). The images were obtained on Jan. 9, 2022. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.
From orbit, the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) and Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide daily updates on the state of the atmosphere– useful for understanding activity outside of Jezero crater that might impact future weather condition.
Not too far away is the InSight lander, which recently went into safe mode due to a dust storm that blanketed the landers solar panels. It has actually now left safe mode and resumed normal operations, although its science instruments stay off. The objective team is examining the results of dust accumulation on the landers power.
The strategy for Ingenuitys 19th flight is to reach the Jezero river delta to help the Perseverance rover in course planning and scientific discovery.
Flight 19 Landing Zone: The targeted landing zone for Ingenuitys Flight 19 can be seen in this RTE image from Flight 9. The targeted landing spot remains in the center of the image, simply listed below the rover tracks. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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The first flight of 2022 for the Ingenuity Helicopter has actually been postponed due to a regional dust storm on Mars. Mission coordinators had initially targeted January 5 for the tiny helicopters 19th flight, but they required to push back the flight when orbital images and weather condition instruments on the Perseverance rover suggested a worsening weather circumstance.
Weather conditions have actually now improved, nevertheless, and the Ingenuity team expects the next flight will occur on Sunday, January 23.