NASA To Attempt 1st Off-World Flight In Early April

by in Categories News

NASA To Attempt 1st Off-World Flight In Early April

NASA – NASA is setting early April for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to make its 1st attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet.

NASA
This NASA photo obtained on March 23, 2021 shows an illustration of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter standing on the Red Planet’s surface as NASA’s Perseverance rover (partially visible on the left) rolls away. The NASA teams operating Ingenuity and NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover have chosen the flight zone where the helicopter will attempt the first powered, controlled flights on another planet. Ingenuity’s test flights are expected to begin no earlier than the first week of April 2021. Handout / NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS / AFP | Image from: ABS-CBN News

According to a report from ABS-CBN News, the ultra-light aircraft is currently fixed to the belly of the Perseverance rover, which recently landed on Mars on February 18.

Perseverance dropped the debris shield that dropped the debris shield that protected Ingenuity during landing, and is making its way to the ‘airfield’ where the aircraft will make its flights.

It will have 30 Martian sols, or 31 Earth days, to carry out its mission.

“The best guess we have right now is April 8,”

This came from Bob Balaram, Mars Helicopter chief engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who however said that it could be sooner or later by a few days.

Balaram disclosed that Ingenuity is carrying a small piece of cloth that covered one of the wings of the Wright brothers’ first aircraft that achieved the first powered flight on Earth at Kitty Hawk in 1903 as a tribute to the milestone..

Ingenuity will be attempting to fly in an atmosphere that is one percent the density of Earth’s, making achieving lift harder, but will be assisted by a gravity that is one-third our planet’s.

The first off-world flight involves climbing at a rate of about three feet per second to a height of 10 feet, hovering for 30 seconds, then descending back to the surface.

Ingenuity will be capturing high resolution photographs as it flies.

Ingenuity needs to be placed at its launching site prior to the event, which would take a few more days

Once the rover drops off the helicopter, it needs to drive away about five meters within 25 hours so that it doesn’t cast a shadow on Ingenuity. 

This is the amount of time the aircraft’s batteries will be able to run a heater without needing to recharge via its solar panels.

This is critical o surviving the night time temperatures which can plunge as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit or -90 degrees Celsius.

If left unheated, its unshielded electrical components will freeze and crack, ending the mission before it even started, based on the report.

Should things go to plan, Perseverance will take up a position at a distance to record the aircraft’s exploits with its own cameras.

What do you think of this report? How will you react to this? Let us know more about it in the comments below.

READ ALSO: Julia Barretto, Gerald Anderson: Here’s How Barretto Family Treats Actor

Check out our latest news at philnews.ph or in our following social media pages
Facebook: /PhilNews
Twitter: @PhilNews247
Instagram: @philnewsph

Leave a Comment