Posted on 11/26/2022 8:21:30 PM PST by servo1969
NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity has performed its shortest-ever flight, the first after a major software update that will allow the little chopper to land more safely and navigate over rugged terrain.
Ingenuity's 34th flight, which took place on Tuesday (Nov. 22), lasted only 18 seconds and saw the helicopter briefly hover after takeoff above Mars' surface before landing just 16 feet (5 meters) away from its starting point. The flight, the first since Sept. 29, was the first try-out of a new software system that was beamed to Ingenuity from Earth to improve its ability to operate in the rugged terrain that its parent Perseverance rover is currently exploring.
***********
These more daring flights required the Ingenuity team to search for level airfields that are free of rocks that could damage the helicopter during landing. Because Jezero Crater, which the helicopter and Perseverance are exploring, is rather rocky, those flat, safe airfields have been hard to find. The new software will use Ingenuity's downward-facing camera to detect risky objects before landing and steer Ingenuity to avoid them, allowing the chopper to use smaller airfields.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Those NASA guys could have saved a bunch of money if they had just gotten one of these at amazon and selected free prime shipping
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U3-Vc-gf0Ck
Overall, NASA has become so un-xyz (fill in the blank) that I do not pay as much attention as before. Elon Musk and SpaceX reminds me of Robert Heinlein. Some of SpaceX ‘failures were just to determine how far something could be pushed before it broke, burst, exploded, etc. SpaceX has reused a single first stage 14 times!!
JPL in Kalifornia still can do amazing things. Opportunity rover planned operation was 90 days. It lasted 13-14 years! The Ingenuity helicopter is a test to determine if we could even fly a few feet. It has flown where no one has flown before.
Someday our Sun will enlarge, and our planet will not survive. SpaceX is pushing us out into the universe, where we have to go. I just hope NASA does not hinder SpaceX any more than they already have.
Nasa needs SpaceX and does not hinder them at all.
The new software will use Ingenuity’s downward-facing camera to detect risky objects before landing and steer Ingenuity to avoid them, allowing the chopper to use smaller airfields.
—
These guys must be geniuses! /s
Nasa needs SpaceX and does not hinder them at all.
—
They just use the FAA and the EPA so their hands look clean. After over a year of test flights the booster and Starship have not flown for 1.5 years (May 2021). In 2021, there were 4 flights. 2022 there were Zero flights. Next flight is not until 2023 at the earliest.
Now that Artemis has flow, we only have to wait for the successful orbital flight of Bezos’ Blue Horizons, then **maybe** the StarShip project can begin again. Just depends on the level of Musk hatred.
Let’s see SpaceX had a 14 raptor engine test last Monday of the booster, more testing next week. Starship will fly early next year. Sure Artemis is in orbit around yhe moon, next yr a crew flight in 24 maybe a landing
And as for blue origin, they don’t even have their new Glen pathfinder out at the pad yet, and just sent the B4 engines to ula for vulcan.
Starship will fly early next year.
—
Maybe. Ask the Musk hater in the government if they will grant him a license
Blue Origin - like I said it will be years before they get anything to LEO
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.