![]() ![]() In fact, they will have to spin faster than we have ever attempted with Ingenuity or any of our test helicopters on Earth. ![]() Thankfully, there is a way to tackle this issue – but it involves spinning the rotors even faster than we have been doing up to now. But if the atmospheric density were to drop to 0.012 kg/m3 in the coming months, our helicopter’s thrust margin could drop to as low as 8%, which means that Ingenuity would be operating close to aerodynamic stall (a condition where further increases in the blade’s angle of attack does not produce more lift, only more drag). That additional thrust is needed on takeoffs and climbs, during maneuvers, and also when tracking terrain with varying height. Thrust margin refers to the excess thrust that Ingenuity can produce above and beyond what is required to hover. At our lower design limit for atmospheric density (0.0145 kg/m3), we know that Ingenuity has a thrust margin of at least 30%. The difference may seem small, but it has a significant impact on Ingenuity’s ability to fly. ![]() In the coming months we may see densities as low as 0.012 kg/m3 (1.0% of Earth’s density) during the afternoon hours that are preferable for flight. With Ingenuity in its sixth month of operation, however, we have entered a season where the densities in Jezero Crater are dropping to even lower levels. We therefore prepared for flights at atmospheric densities between 0.0145 and 0.0185 kg/m3, which is equivalent to 1.2-1.5% of Earth’s atmospheric density at sea level. When we designed and tested Ingenuity on Earth, we expected Ingenuity’s five-flight mission to be completed within the first few months after Perseverance’s landing in February 2021. But in one important way it is actually getting more difficult every day: I’m talking about the atmospheric density, which was already extremely low and is now dropping further due to seasonal variations on Mars. With the benefit of the knowledge acquired, conducting flights on Mars has in most ways become easier than it was at the outset. We have explored Ingenuity’s strengths and limitations in detail, leveraging the former and working around the latter to operationalize it as a highly capable reconnaissance platform. In the months since we flew for the first time, we have learned a great deal about operating a helicopter on Mars. Written by Håvard Grip, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Chief Pilot at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Quote STATUS UPDATES | September 15, 2021įlying on Mars Is Getting Harder and Harder Note, that the blue coax cable from antenna to the board passes over the top of the rover, not inside. In these unfriendly circumstances of information blockade from IEEE the only way out for me is to kindly ask the native speakers of English to help me to pick up correct words for:ġ) a frail stand, a kind of "balcony" on which antenna is mounted?Ģ) the "box" to which this "balcony" is screwed (descriptively: a hollow on the right rear side? Or not a hollow?)ģ) another "box" or "hollow", where the Telecom Board is hidden? I honestly opened account at IEEE, but even this did not allow me to download this PDF for my evidently non-commercial needs. However, in this case due to the fault of IEEE all of them shall be deprived of such an opportunity. Its authors (Nacer Chahat, Joshua Miller and Courtney Duncan) are all JPL employees and the Ingenuity team members. Solution recommended to wikipedians in such cases: find a reliable source, quote it with all its terminology - and its authors will be grateful for another one more free mentioning of their glorious names in such a globally recognized and popular site as Wikipedia.įinding the source was not a problem: ( "The Mars Helicopter Telecommunication Link: Antennas, Propagation, and Link Analysis"). These photos need encyclopaedic descriptions in the technically correct English. * b/w photo is a clipping from the selfy on sol 1, when Percy was examining herself. * Color photo is a fragment of a video footage taken from a parachute at the moment of landing on Mars However, I did manage to find some excellent photographs that I am going to upload to Wikipedia to illustrate the telecommunications section of the article. Unfortunately, these searches have so far been unsuccessful. ![]()
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