The creativity helicopter managed to make a call …

The NASA I recently reported that the helicopter clevernessWhich arrived this Thursday to Mars with the probe perseverance, In good condition and “working as expected”.

Both robots managed to overcome the difficulty of landing on the red planet after being launched from Earth on July 30. Tenacity is the size of a pickup truck, while Ibdaa, docked in the rover, weighs just 2kg.

Perseverance I managed to send a bunch of pictures to Mars and You are now ready to go through the verification phase before beginning your journey across the surface.

Meanwhile, Ingenuity has managed to make a call through NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been operating as a transmitter for communications between Mars and Earth and orbiting the Red Planet since 2006. The helicopter will continue docking with the rover for 30 to 60 days before conducting a test flight.

“Creativity, the helicopter that I’m carrying from Mars, is running as expected. I’m currently charging it, but once I drop it, it will only rely on solar panels. If it survives very cold Mars nights, the team will try to fly,” wrote the Perseverance account on Twitter.

Creativity mission

“There are two important elements we’re looking for in the data: the charge of the Ingenuity batteries, plus the assurance that the base station is operating as designed, and directing the heaters to turn them off and on to keep electronics,” said Tim Cannham, lead operations officer for Ingenuity helicopter on Mars at the affiliated JPL “The helicopter is within the expected range,” said NASA (JPL) in a statement.

“Both seem to be working very well. With this positive report, we will go ahead with charging helicopter batteries.

The main challenge facing creativity now is Maintains its functionality and battery condition during cold mars nightsIts temperature can drop to -95 ° C.

If successful, perseverance will proceed to find the perfect takeoff site for Ingenuity Deposit, with the helicopter attempting a total of five test flights over a period of 31 days.

While persevering docking, Ingenuity can continue to charge its six lithium-ion batteries. Once separated from the rover, the batteries will be charged by a solar panel.

Scheduled trips

Your first start for creativity will consist of a few The 20-second flight is suspended from Earth, and if successful, it will become the first helicopter to fly on another planet. “A moment from space for the Wright brothers,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate director for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

Subsequent flights could last longer and test more capabilities of the helicopter, as it has two cameras that will provide aerial photos. Perseverance will also train its cameras and microphones at Ingenuity to record these historic journeys.

“We are in an unfamiliar area, but this team is used to it. Almost every teacher from here to the end of our flight show program will be the first, and every teacher has to be successful for us to move to the next stage.” Said Mi Ong, Helicopter Project Manager. Creativity on Mars at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “We’re going to enjoy this good news for now, but then we’ll have to get back to work.”

The experiment in creativity will mark a turning point in the development of helicopters that could serve as scouts for both rovers and human missions to Mars in the future.