Posted on 04/12/2021 11:09:58 AM PDT by Red Badger
Based on data from the Ingenuity Mars helicopter that arrived late Friday night, NASA has chosen to reschedule the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s first experimental flight to no earlier than April 14.
During a high-speed spin test of the rotors on Friday, the command sequence controlling the test ended early due to a “watchdog” timer expiration. This occurred as it was trying to transition the flight computer from ‘Pre-Flight’ to ‘Flight’ mode. The helicopter is safe and healthy and communicated its full telemetry set to Earth.
Ingenuity Begins to Spin Its Blades NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter does a slow spin test of its blades, on April 8, 2021, the 48th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This image was captured by the Navigation Cameras on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The watchdog timer oversees the command sequence and alerts the system to any potential issues. It helps the system stay safe by not proceeding if an issue is observed and worked as planned.
The helicopter team is reviewing telemetry to diagnose and understand the issue. Following that, they will reschedule the full-speed test.
Ingenuity's Blades Are Released NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter unlocked its blades, allowing them to spin freely, on April 7, 2021, the 47th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This image was captured by the Mastcam-Z imager aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on the following sol, April 8, 2021. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Mars’ atmosphere is extremely thin. And the highest wind speeds are around 60mph. With the air as thin as it is that would barely lift a kite. The main worry is that grit gets in everything and covers solar panels.
If only we had an Election Watchdog Timer...
Izzat before or after you hit it with a stick?................
Gotta have Velcro too.
The atmosphere on Mars is about 1/1000th the density of Earth’s atmosphere.
It’s amazing that this device could generate enough lift to get off the ground.
Our chow chow thought the Roomba was an alien invader.
He didn’t destroy it, but he barked hysterically about an inch away from it whenever it was moving.
If it bumped into him, he would back up a step and resume barking.
Crazy stuff.
Imagine trying to control a helicopter when any command you give it will not be executed for 12 minutes or more.
Yeah, I hope NASA did their atmospheric density vs. blade size calculations correctly...those blades look a bit small to me (for Mars).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Mars
Truthfully, the atmosphere on Mars is extremely thin (max 0,15 psi). I would be surprised if it flew at all.
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