Mini-Thoughput: Ingenuity Flying on Mars Edition
Mars 2020 Collecting Sample (Artist’s Concept). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
A few weeks ago, we talked about the astonishing landing of Perseverance on Mars. One of the things we had to look forward to was the launch of the probe’s flying drone Ingenuity.
This week, it took its maiden flight:
Monday, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter became the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet. The Ingenuity team at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California confirmed the flight succeeded after receiving data from the helicopter via NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover at 6:46 a.m. EDT (3:46 a.m. PDT).
“Ingenuity is the latest in a long and storied tradition of NASA projects achieving a space exploration goal once thought impossible,” said acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk. “The X-15 was a pathfinder for the space shuttle. Mars Pathfinder and its Sojourner rover did the same for three generations of Mars rovers. We don’t know exactly where Ingenuity will lead us, but today’s results indicate the sky – at least on Mars – may not be the limit.”
The solar-powered helicopter first became airborne at 3:34 a.m. EDT (12:34 a.m. PDT) – 12:33 Local Mean Solar Time (Mars time) – a time the Ingenuity team determined would have optimal energy and flight conditions. Altimeter data indicate Ingenuity climbed to its prescribed maximum altitude of 10 feet (3 meters) and maintained a stable hover for 30 seconds. It then descended, touching back down on the surface of Mars after logging a total of 39.1 seconds of flight. Additional details on the test are expected in upcoming downlinks.
Here’s the time-lapse video:
Keep in mind: Mars is almost 300 million kilometers away right now. It takes 16 minutes for signals to get from the red planet to us. So, this isn’t a flight that can be done by the seat of the pants. The probe has to be pre-programmed and it has to exercise some degrees of autonomy. In doing so, it has to account for Mars’ lower gravity and much thinner atmosphere.
Ingenuity does not have a scientific payload. It’s there to test the concept of flying drones on Mars. If it continues to have this kind of success, future mission will include drones that could massively expand their range of operations, access areas that large probes physically can’t and possibly even return samples to return vehicle for analysis on Earth.
As I write these words, the second flight is already planned. By the time you read them, it may have already occurred. If everything goes well — knock on wood — we’ve just gotten a huge force multiplier for our exploration of the Solar System.
Interesting choice, using a coaxial rotor.Report
The advances of robotics, imaging, and software are calling into question whether sending actual humans to outer space is necessary.Report
It’s not that we need to send people, it’s that we really want to.
But it certainly makes sense to let the robots explore a bit before we spend the money to send people.Report
If nothing else, you can test out a lot of people-important stuff.
Like “can we make breathable air” (apparently yes) and “can we make rocket fuel” (not sure if they’re testing that yet) and “hey guys, what’s the actual rad dosages here” and “hey guys, does this design even fly” and “hey guys, does this material hold up to two years on the surface” and….
Well, all the things you really want answers to before you stick someone there.
Of course the big question remains — and one Elon Musk ignores like he ignores any practical question that has to be solved — is “How do you get people there not dying of all the cancers?”
Me, I favor snagging a really big rock from the asteroid belt, hollowing it out, and stuffing it in a Hohmann transfer orbit. If nothing else, it’s a nice way to get a lot of shielding you don’t need to haul out of a gravity well. And even if you don’t use it for crew, it’s a pretty safe way to transport a lot of equipment without worrying about micrometeorites, cosmic rays, or anything else.Report
Do we need to go out to the asteroid belt? According to the news, we apparently have planet killers squeak by every couple of months!
[end sarcasm]Report
People have thought about it. Apophis will (we think) pass closer than geostationary orbit in 2029.Report
Oh boy, we’d better land some motors on that soon!Report
I mean… eventually in the very long term- like really long term- we need to send people. But not really before that.Report
My strong expectation is we’ll be colonizing the galaxy by sending robot ships which will grow the crew after they find something worthwhile.
Having a human “crew” camp out on the ship for the many decades or centuries it would take to go between stars doesn’t seem realistic, nor does beating the speed of light.Report
Embryonic seed pod ships. Arthur C. Clarke wrote a lot about them.Report
I was hoping Ingenuity would be covered today. It runs on Linux! And much of the computer vision part is done with Python and OpenCV. The JPL is working with GitHub to add a special NASA patch to the profile pages of all the people who committed code to the releases being used.
My new desktop computer is a Linux mini-box, and (for other projects) has Python and OpenCV installed. With the desktop loaded up similarly to what I ran on the Mac Mini this box replaced, it is astounding how quickly applications launch and how little main memory is being used.Report
The picture quality from Perseverance is just astounding. It would have been cool if they’d programmed the first flight to match that of the Wright brothers’ 12 seconds.
I wonder if they’re thinking about controlling flight from an orbiting satellite. This could help a semi-autonomous drone avoid weather that might disable or kill it. It could also provide pictures to controllers on earth so they could find interesting places to visit.Report