Monday’s videos of Mars ’successful arrival on Perseverance in the Jezero Crater were just the opening act for what will be NASA’s fastest and most equipped rover for scientific research on the Red Planet.
Act two will be a new type of helicopter – also known as an eVTOL (Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft. Weighing just four pounds, Ingenuity hit a nearly 300 million-mile journey to Mars, connected to the Stability underground. Nickname “Ginny, ”the VTOL is powered by six lithium-ion batteries that make up just 15 percent of its weight and are rechargeable from the solar array on top of the airframe.
“Named a technology demonstration, Ingenuity will perform five flights, starting sometime in April,” said Steven Agid, aerospace engineer at the Kennedy Space Center. Robb Report. “Starting with vertical construction, each trip lasts up to 90 seconds, between 10 and 15 feet above the surface of Mars. Subsequent testing will expand the Ingenuity flight envelope, with the longest flight covering three football pitches. ”
In innovation – nicknamed “Ginny” – 300 million miles has been linked to Sustainability’s subliminal. Now he makes his own test trips over the surface of the Red Planet.
Courtesy of NASA
The invention is only 19.2 inches high, with four carbon fiber blades arranged in two 4-foot long rotating rotors that spin at about 2,400 RPM – or about five times more. faster than a conventional helicopter – because of Mars’ s ultrathin atmosphere. With about five inches of off-ground clearance, Ingenuity will have two cameras: one color with a horizon front view for terrestrial images and one black-and-white for navigation.
While Ingenuity can communicate with NASA through Perseverance, the Cape Canaveral-controlled flight tests will not be remote. It takes nearly 12 minutes for a signal from Earth to reach Mars and the same for an answer. With such a delay, the eVTOL was pre-programmed with test scripts to perform when it receives activation signals.
To mitigate the imaginary risks associated with first flights in an invisible and uncontrolled environment, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) conducted an extensive simulation campaign at its CalTech research center in Pasadena, California. From wind tunnel experiments to conditions that recreate Mars’ extreme temperatures and much lower gravity, Ingenuity maintained all known possible scenarios on the Red Planet.
The space eVTOL was designed to fly in Mars’ ultra-thin atmosphere, with gravity 62 percent lower than Earth’s level.
Courtesy of NASA
While conditions are ideal for another Mars mission 26 months away, Ingenuity’s confirmation of its flight features and capabilities on the Red Planet will give NASA and JPL enough time to plan, build and test the next eVTOL on a flight on Mars. There will be missions after that for goods and finally the electric plane will be used for human transport.