NASA helicopter returns to Mars two months after forced crash

Creativity hasn’t flown for more than two months And the small helicopter that reached Mars Android perseverance To test flight conditions on the Red Planet, it’s now back in action with a verification test. informations creativity mission It was shared with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which oversees the mission.

It was more a “short hop” than a flight, admits the tweet shared by JPLBut there is an explanation for why the team is ready for a simple task after a long layover.

The idea is that the flight team can do it Check the helicopter’s vitals to see how it withstood the harsh conditions on Mars, as well as to get rid of any dust that accumulated on the solar panel..

This is new Flight is Ingenuity’s 30th flight to Mars and it happens 16 months after the first testWhen it made its first controlled and monitored flight, it was the first test of this type of mission on a planet other than Earth.

Ingenuity’s two-month shutdown is due to harsh winter conditions that hit Jezero Crater, where the Ingenuity and Perseverance robot is based. Temperatures were too low for the helicopter to operate safely, and The reduced amount of sunlight reaching its solar panel prevented the helicopter from maintaining a proper charge during the day and at night.

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According to the plan released before the flight, The goal was to raise the Creation to a maximum height of 5 m (16.5 ft), and later flew about 2 m (6.5 ft) before re-landing.. In total, the flight should take about 33 seconds, heading toward the river delta where the team wants to steer the helicopter in the coming weeks.

See the location of perseverance and creativity on the map shared by NASA

with the Battery charge recovery ingenuity can prepare for long trips, And in the future, turn on the internal heaters all night, which will prevent the electronic circuits from freezing every night.

You should also get creative Next month’s software update will allow new navigation features For more efficient trips that allow you to meet the challenges of the terrain of the Mars River delta.

Remember that after successful tests, the Upgrade creative team helicopter mission Which began with the help of the rover in identifying soil samples from Mars It could allow scientists to determine if life forms exist on the Red Planet.

The helicopter helped map the terrain to find the best routes to persevere and also provided pictures of areas of interest for analysis. Already defined Plan to return samples to Earth, where they could arrive in 2033.