Repairs Needed, Ingenuity’s Flight on Mars is Postponed Again

NASA has yet to determine an Ingenuity flight date.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – The first flight of a helicopter Ingenuity property of the American Space Agency (NASA) on Mars is postponed again. The delay was due to an error in the helicopter’s flight control software during testing last week. The mini-helicopter remains on the surface of the Jezero Mars Crater while waiting for technicians to adjust, test and reinstall the software.

Ingenuity, a four-pound helicopter that arrived on Mars on February 18 with its parent rover, Perseverance, has undergone a nine-day trial period. The first slow-speed rotor spin at 50 rpm went well at the start of last week, while NASA was working on its debut flight last Sunday.

But the engineers ran into trouble Friday night when they tested the high-speed rotors. At that time, the Ingenuity software detects bug and prevent aircraft from testing.

“Our best estimates for the targeted flight dates may change at this time, but we are working to achieve this milestone and will set a flight date next week,” wrote the official NASA statement. the Verge on Wednesday (14/4).

NASA engineers will set new dates for the high-speed test and its first flight after they ship the new software through the Perseverance communications hub and boot it up to Ingenuity. Ingenuity is expected to perform at least five test flights in the 31 day (or 30 Mars day) test.

For the inaugural test flight, the aircraft will rise 10 feet above the surface and hover in place, turn, then descend for landing, lasting about 40 seconds in total. Future tests are expected to fly higher and travel shorter distances, but the exact details of the flight will be determined by how well the aircraft performs its first flight.

Ingenuity needed to exert enormous force to achieve the lift in the thin Martian atmosphere. Ingenuity’s carbon fiber propellers will rotate approximately 2,400 rpm during flight. For the previous high-speed spin test, the blade would rotate at 2,537 rpm.

NASA officials say the test deadline Ingenuity flights the month’s duration cannot be extended if the helicopter experiences more problems prior to flight.

“This is basically a science mission for explorers, and it needs to continue with the main mission. So that’s why there is a time limit for helicopters,” said Ingenuity’s chief pilot Hårvard Grip.

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