Helicopter Ingenuity Next Sunday “Mars is preparing for a historic and complex day: The first test flight of an aircraft on another planet NASA compares Mars to the achievements of the Wright brothers, the pioneers of aviation on Earth, as part of its 2020 Perspective mission.
This small plane took off from Florida in July 2020 Perseverance, The rover successfully landed in the Jessero crater of the “Red Planet” on February 18, at high speed within seven minutes, after a dangerous landing after crossing the atmosphere of Mars.
NASA’s Spaniard Jose Antonio Rodriguez Manfredi, who is in charge of a small meteorological center on a permanent ship, told EFO this Friday that this is tantamount to repeating the Wright brothers’ achievement, but also on another planet.
He explained that this helicopter, about the size of a soccer ball, had a small piece of cloth from the original plane of Wilbur and Orville Wright under the rotors.
“118 years ago, the Wright brothers’ pioneer flight and the first flight to another planet brought these two special moments together in a historic gesture.”, He deepened.
“One hundred years ago the brothers had this plane on Earth, and now we see it doing something similar on another planet, on another world, 274 million kilometers away,” the scientist added.
In 1903, Wright was able to fly a heavier, more controllable, powered aircraft over Kitty Hawk Beach, Ohio, USA, in just 59 seconds.
The NASA A live broadcast confirming the first flight of the trick this Friday is scheduled to start on EDT (03:30 am, Chile time) on Monday, April 12 on POT channels.
Challenges in the atmosphere of Mars
Rodriguez Manfredi explained that this is the idea Ingenuity Rise to 5 meters, hold for 30 seconds, land on Mars.
He reminded them that this was the first and best move and that they planned to make five long flights a month.
“It’s an engineering challenge, it’s a science challenge in general, and we’re going to learn a lot.”Said the expert.
He pointed out that the “18 to 19 minute” delay in communication between the two planets was long enough to make it difficult to control the plane in real time.
“We can’t pilot it like we do here with the drone, we can’t say it can accelerate from right to left,” he said.
He then added NASA Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) sends general commands about elevation and acceleration in California, which are just “parameters” for the ingenuity of “managing your own flight”.
20 more days until our ingenuity # Mars Helicopter The first power on another planet, attempting a controlled flight.
Watch NASA TV live ASNASAJPL Mission teams receive first data signals from historic test on April 12 at 3:30 am ET (7:30 am UT): https://t.co/uOrrDTZJ8J pic.twitter.com/VaZ5DNdhIw
– NASA (AS NASA) April 9, 2021
Those signals first go to the Perseverance Rover, which sends them to the helicopter and then repeats the opposite action to reach them in response to the Earth.
“Everything is a choreography like a ballet work”, The Spanish argued.
He made it clear that ingenuity, with its artificial intelligence, could fly with autonomy and detect dangers on its own.
It is hoped that the vehicle will also send the first images of the rover in this exchange Perseverance “Out of the air,” says Rodriguez Manfredi, “another historic moment.”
Rodriguez Manfredi said that the atmosphere of Mars is 1% of the density of the Earth and the challenge of the first aircraft is that it does not support the helicopter blades to advance and ascend on their own.
That stated Ingenuity Its blades must rotate faster than they are on the ground to get the lift they need.
Rover’s complement
The U.S. space agency hopes to succeed in this test flight into the thin Martian atmosphere, which could pave the way for more information on determining the existence of life on Mars and further exploration of other planets.
For Spaniard Rodriguez Manfredi, this is a “very valuable” technology that opens the door to future exploration, allowing access to many places that vehicles such as perseverance cannot reach.
However, he stated it Ingenuity, About 4 pounds (1.8 kg) equipped with a camera and microphone, which does not replace them, but completes them.
The Meda Climate Center, which assists in analyzing the atmospheric conditions on Mars, is very proud of the specialist in charge of it.
“Here we need to know about the winds on Earth and the storms that make up Madrid New York aircraft, for example, even more on Mars,” he said.
‘S flight Ingenuity They will pave the way for future missions involving advanced robotic flying vehicles, collect high-resolution images from the air, and examine sites that are difficult for rovers to reach.
Rodriguez Manfredi recalled that the basic goal of the mission was to collect samples and analyze the geography in search of signs of life.
He added that the flight was a technical demonstration: “We want to design more complex and larger air systems in the future.”
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