NASA's Exerful Helicopter, the 15th flight was completed (Business Insider JAPAN) --Yahoo! News

On April 5, 2021, the small helicopter "Ingenuity" dropped on the ground of Mars from the NASA exploration vehicle "Persaviance".

NASA sent the small helicopter "Ingenuity" to Mars, but was not sure that the flight would succeed. [See all images] NASA's Mars helicopter, unexpected activity ... The fifteenth flight was completed, but the aircraft flew higher, far, and faster than the engineer expected. Ingenuity was expected to crash in the fifth flight, but has just finished his fifteenth flight. Engineers of the US Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) came up with their original ideas while assembling the Persevarance car. "What if you bring a small helicopter on Mars?" But I don't know if the helicopter can be used on Mars. It will be difficult to take off in the air with only 1 % of the earth's atmosphere. This is like flying three times the height of Everest. However, NASA wanted to prove that it was possible through technical demonstrations. The NASA engineer produced a small helicopter like "Ingenuity", and packed it in the empty space that remained inside the parsavian. The engineer was not convinced that Ingenuity would be able to spend the first night safely on the cold Mars surface. I was also worried that I would not fly even if I put out the command, or that I would crash once in the flight I had planned five times. However, Ingenuity dispelled that anxiety many times. On November 6th, the fifteenth flight ended. The data obtained in this flight is currently being analyzed on NASA. If you were flying as planned, Ingenuity rose to about 12 meters from the ground on Mars and flew about 400 meters in less than 129 seconds.

NASA was prepared to crash the Mars helicopter

On February 18, 2021, Ingenuity and Persaviance landed on the Jezero Crater. This crater is the bottom of the dried ancient lake. Scientists believe that more than 3.5 billion years ago, Lake Gezero may have had a microorganism ecosystem on Mars. If such microorganisms existed, the minerals deposited at the bottom of the lake may be fossilized. Initially, engineers did not expect Ingenuity to fly more than 5 meters. In the fifth flight in early April, the project manager Mimi Aung said, "It will be difficult to land safely because it will enter the unusual area." I was. "If the landing fails, the mission will end at that point," she said. "Whether the landing works depends on the life expectancy," but Ingenuity has succeeded in landing at least 14 times (15 times if the latest flight success is confirmed). NASA extended the mission by 30 days, as Ingenuity had a very good performance in the first five flights. In the sixth flight, the first flight after extension, he flew on the terrain that had not been investigated before. Since then, he has visited several unusual places, such as rocky places and waving sand. On these flights, Ingenuity took pictures of the outcrops and rocky places in which the Persavier Lance team was considering sending an exploration car. Based on the photos, NASA was able to identify a safe and flat route that the exploration car could proceed, and identify the types of rocks in the area. In the future, if the Persaviance collects the rock sample, it will be a clue to the past of Jezero Crater. At a press conference in April, "Ken Farley), a Persaviance scientist," The ability to fly a helicopter to the terrain where the exploration car cannot be broken and bring back scientific data is the spoking car and a reconnaissance helicopter. It is very important for future missions that combine. " NASA has further extended the mission, as Ingenuity has been extending on the 30th. They decided to continue to fly Ingenuity, until Ingenuity crashed or hindered the operation of Persaviance. Neither of them has happened yet. In fact, Ingenuity is perfectly doing almost all flights. Once in May, technical malfunctions shaken back, back, left and right during the flight, but still landed safely. NASA increased the rotation speed of the rotor with the latest two flights and further driven Ingenuity. In order to gain sufficient lift in the thin atmosphere of Mars, Ingenuity must rotate two pairs of blades in the opposite direction in 2400 revolutions per minute. However, the atmosphere is getting thinner now, as Jezero Crater has reached a full -fledged summer. Because the South Pole of Mars is in the winter, some of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has become snow and ice. For this reason, the blade speed has been speeded up to 2,700 revolutions per minute. Ingenuity has already flown twice in the conditions. NASA is planning to fly four to seven times to return Ingenuity to the first place where Persaviance landed on Mars. But the subsequent plans have not been revealed. Ultimately, NASA would want to send more ambitious helicopters to Mars and, probably other places. Someday, a space drone like Ingenuity will investigate the terrain that is difficult to observe from the sky, investigate a large area faster than the exploration vehicle, and also scout for astronauts. You will be able to do it. NASA is already working on missions using such helicopters. In 2027, a helicopter called "Dragon Fly" will be launched to Saturn's satellite Titan, aiming to find out if there is a life form in Titan, which is rich in methane. [Original: NASA Engineers Expected THEIR MARS HELICOPTER TO CRASH AFTER 5 Liftoffs.It Just Landed ITS 15th Flight.] (Translation: Fumiko Nakata, edited: toshihiko inoue)

Morgan McFall-Johnsen