Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech
It’s been a year full of surprises for NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity. The little chopper was supposed to demonstrate if flight was possible on another planet. And it not only did that – but it surpassed any expectations. To date, Ingenuity has already scored 20 flights, moving closer with each trip to the landing spot of its rover buddy Perseverance.
Earlier this month, Ingenuity took to the skies and landed near the South Séítah region on Mars. The last flight was delayed by an unexpected dust storm that caused a drop in air density.
And while the helicopter landed safely and was able to maintain communication with the rover after the storm passed, it had to deal with several issues before embarking on another flight. Its ground-facing navigation camera window had some debris on it.
While this may not seem like a big deal, the debris might lead the helicopter to confuse it with features characteristic to the Martian ground that the chopper follows during flight. As a result, navigation errors could take place. Fortunately, the team behind Ingenuity was able to command Ingenuity to ignore certain regions of the image.
Another issue that had to be sorted out before the helicopter soared to the skies again was the dust accumulated on the swashplate assemblies. Since the beginning of the month, the team put the swashplanets to action, commanding the rotorcraft to move them repeatedly. This removed the dust, giving Ingenuity the green light to proceed with its next flight.
On February 26th, NASA JPL took to Twitter to announce that the trip was successful. During Flight 20, Ingenuity managed to stay in the air for more than two minutes and cover a distance of 391 meters (1,283 ft) at a speed of 15.8 kph (9.8 mph).
Now, Ingenuity is closer to Perseverance’s landing spot, the Octavia E. Butler. The two will meet there and then head to the Jezero Crater, a region that scientists believe to have once hosted liquid water.
Even if both will travel to the same location, Perseverance will drive near Séítah, while its partner will take a shortcut, flying across it.
And while the helicopter landed safely and was able to maintain communication with the rover after the storm passed, it had to deal with several issues before embarking on another flight. Its ground-facing navigation camera window had some debris on it.
While this may not seem like a big deal, the debris might lead the helicopter to confuse it with features characteristic to the Martian ground that the chopper follows during flight. As a result, navigation errors could take place. Fortunately, the team behind Ingenuity was able to command Ingenuity to ignore certain regions of the image.
Another issue that had to be sorted out before the helicopter soared to the skies again was the dust accumulated on the swashplate assemblies. Since the beginning of the month, the team put the swashplanets to action, commanding the rotorcraft to move them repeatedly. This removed the dust, giving Ingenuity the green light to proceed with its next flight.
On February 26th, NASA JPL took to Twitter to announce that the trip was successful. During Flight 20, Ingenuity managed to stay in the air for more than two minutes and cover a distance of 391 meters (1,283 ft) at a speed of 15.8 kph (9.8 mph).
Now, Ingenuity is closer to Perseverance’s landing spot, the Octavia E. Butler. The two will meet there and then head to the Jezero Crater, a region that scientists believe to have once hosted liquid water.
Even if both will travel to the same location, Perseverance will drive near Séítah, while its partner will take a shortcut, flying across it.
Flight 20 was a success! ? In its 130.3 seconds of flight, the #MarsHelicopter covered 391 meters at a speed of 4.4 meters per second, bringing it closer to @NASAPersevere's landing location. pic.twitter.com/93pnuIuXaB
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) February 26, 2022
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