NASAs Ingenuity Mars Helicopter effectively finished its 54th flight on August 3. The short 25-second climb and descent during the 54th flight yielded data that could help the Ingenuity group in determining the reasons behind the premature ending of its 53rd flight.
Flight 53 was planned as a 136-second scouting flight committed to collecting imagery of the planets surface for the Perseverance Mars rover science team. In this video, images from NASAs Mars Ingenuity Helicopters Flight 9, which took location on July 5, 2021, have actually been post-processed using the helicopters hazard avoidance capability, which was included by means of a software application update to the helicopter in late 2022. After showing flight was possible on Mars, Ingenuity went into an operations demonstration phase in May 2021 to reveal how aerial scouting could benefit future expedition of Mars and other worlds.
In this video, images from NASAs Mars Ingenuity Helicopters Flight 9, which occurred on July 5, 2021, have been post-processed utilizing the helicopters danger avoidance capability, which was included via a software upgrade to the helicopter in late 2022. The upgrade supplies 2 key enhancements: It determines areas unsuitable for landing (shaded in red) along with candidate landing sites (revealed in green). The algorithm likewise enables using digital elevation maps to help navigate. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
However, things didnt go as prepared. Resourcefulness just managed to fly north for 466 feet (142 meters) at its designated altitude before its flight-contingency program was initiated, prompting an automated landing. This shortened flight lasted 74 seconds.
Technical Details and Teams Response
” Since the extremely first flight we have actually consisted of a program called LAND_NOW that was created to put the helicopter on the surface area as soon as possible if any one of a couple of dozen off-nominal circumstances was experienced,” said Teddy Tzanetos, group lead emeritus for Ingenuity at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “During Flight 53, we came across among these, and the helicopter worked as prepared and executed an instant landing.”
Perseverance Seen From Above During Flight 54: This picture of NASAs Perseverance Mars rover– noticeable at the top, right of center– was taken at an altitude of about 16 feet (5 meters) by the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its 54th flight on August 3, 2023, 872nd Martian day, or sol, of the objective. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This was not the first event on which image frames were dropped by the helicopters Navcam throughout a flight. Back on May 22, 2021, multiple image frames were dropped, resulting in excessive pitching and rolling near the end of Flight 6.
After Flight 6, the team updated the flight software application to help alleviate the effect of dropped images, and the fix worked well for the subsequent 46 flights. On Flight 53 the amount of dropped navigation images exceeded what the software spot enables.
” While we hoped to never trigger a LAND_NOW, this flight is a valuable case research study that will benefit future airplane operating on other worlds,” said Tzanetos. “The group is working to much better understand what took place in Flight 53, and with Flight 54s success were confident that our child is ready to keep soaring ahead on Mars.”
More About Ingenuity
Ingenuitys function on Mars started as a mere innovation demonstration. It initially flew on April 19, 2021, hovering 10 feet (3 meters) for 30 seconds. Four more flights in as numerous weeks added 499 seconds and saw the helicopter flying horizontally over the surface area for 1,171 feet (357 meters). After proving flight was possible on Mars, Ingenuity went into an operations presentation phase in May 2021 to show how aerial searching could benefit future expedition of Mars and other worlds.
The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was developed by JPL, which also manages the project for NASA Headquarters. NASAs Ames Research Center in Californias Silicon Valley and NASAs Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, provided substantial flight performance analysis and technical support during Ingenuitys development.
Dave Lavery holds the title of program executive for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at NASA Headquarters.
Determination Checks Out Ingenuity: This view of NASAs Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was created utilizing data gathered by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard the companys Perseverance Mars rover on August 2, 2023, the 871st Martian day, or sol, of the mission, one day before the rotorcrafts 54th flight. Credit: JPL/Caltech-ASU/MSSS
The helicopter carried out a short hop to assist the team much better understand why its previous flight was interrupted.
NASAs Ingenuity Mars Helicopter successfully finished its 54th flight on August 3. This was the very first flight since the helicopter had to cut brief its July 22 flight. The short 25-second climb and descent throughout the 54th flight yielded data that could assist the Ingenuity team in figuring out the reasons behind the early ending of its 53rd flight.
Flight 53 was prepared as a 136-second searching flight devoted to gathering images of the planets surface area for the Perseverance Mars rover science group. The complex flight profile consisted of flying north for 666 feet (203 meters) at an elevation of 16 feet (5 meters) and at a speed of 5.6 mph (2.5 meters per second). The helicopter would then descend vertically to 8 feet (2.5 meters) to hover and catch images of a rocky outcrop. Consequently, Ingenuity was supposed to rise to 33 feet (10 meters) to enable its danger divert system to start (see video listed below) before descending vertically to touch down.