Posted on 03/22/2023 9:34:56 AM PDT by Ezekiel
Flight Log
Flight 48
Sol 741
Date March 21, 2023
Horizontal Distance 398 m ~1,306 ft
Max. Altitude 12 m ~39 ft
Max. Groundspeed 4.65 m/s ~10.4 mph
Duration 149.9 seconds
Route of Flight from Airfield Iota to Airfield Kappa
Flights
48
(as of 3/21/23)
Distance Flown
10,942 meters
(~35,901 ft)
Highest Altitude
14 meters
(~46 ft)
Fastest Ground Speed
6 m/s
(13.4 mph)
Flight Time
~84.4 minutes
(5,061 seconds)
Other than playing with the drone helicopter,
have we learned anything that means anything
for the betterment of humanity from these flights?
Nope, Mars is still a dead, frozen ball of rock with no magnetosphere, just like before.
“Other than playing with the drone helicopter,
have we learned anything that means anything
for the betterment of humanity from these flights?”
Have you heard of the Kitty Hawk and the Wright brothers? 100+ years later we’re on Mars. This helicopter represents the first powered flight on an alien planet. Lots of data is being gathered, air density, solar insolation, survivability, photovoltaic efficiency, etc. Assuming we don’t nuke ourselves, there will be aircraft on Mars capable of carrying humans.
Great. We demonstrated for whatever reason that we can fly a drone at who knows what cost. Now stop. There are plenty of humans on earth we can fly around. 0 on Mars.
Lots of data is being gathered, air density, solar insolation, survivability, photovoltaic efficiency, etc.
Pretty worthless stuff compared to exploring the earth.
I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
The real trick is to develop a probe (ground, aerial, or ‘liquid’ travelling) that is sufficiently developed with AI to allow it to explore and report back on it’s own.
Europa awaits...
And that's just the beginning.
Ingenuity *is* life on Mars. Born from the belly of Perseverance on the eve of Easter.
First flight: Patriot's Day, Monday April 19, 2021.
It was all about the... Revolution. Turn turn turn...
"Let's do this on Mars!"
"Dare Mighty Things!"
Genesis 1
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved (hovered) upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
I doubt that.
The atmosphere on Mars is less than 1% the density of the atmosphere on Earth.
Where is the lift going to come from?
Individual jet pack thrill rides might be the extent of human air travel on Mars.
Slightly off topic...
I really enjoy the Matt Damon movie "The Martian."
However, the essential plot devices that a severe Martian wind storm could launch metal debris with lethal force, or threaten to tip over the ascent rocket, seemed completely implausible to me.
I have no idea how to do the math calculations, so I could be mistaken.
>Where is the lift going to come from?
Helicopters of some form, maybe like a quadcopter or something with rocket assist, who knows. I agree, lift from traditional wings/airfoils (other than fast moving blades) would be difficult but it’s been proven that a helicopter can fly on Mars. Maybe further development won’t return any “benefit” in terms of functional devices but science fiction has a way of becoming science fact. Humans learn a great deal by attempting difficult things, even when failure happens.
Powered flight on Earth was a fantasy a mere 120 years ago, now we have supersonic aircraft and hypersonic weapons. Landing spacecraft on the moon and Mars? Never gonna happen...
I’m curious as to what will be the successor to Ingenuity. Something larger and more capable?
Likewise on “The Martian”. Good scifi.
....with all due respect to “a More Perfect Union”....I agree with you Fretzer. Excellent Points.
That said, Fretzer is partly right. These space bureaucrats and politicians need to come up with some Hard and Truthful justification for spending the tax payers hard earned dollars. Comparisons to the Wright Bros notwithstanding.
>These space bureaucrats and politicians need to come up with some Hard and Truthful justification for spending the tax payers hard earned dollars.
No argument there. Space exploration needs to be privatized. Musk has a good head start. More will follow. The asteroids await.
Go Elon!!
Perseverance is the name of one of the large rovers currently on Mars. Besides proving some kind of flight is possible on Mars, Perseverance also has an experiment called Moxie. It proved that we can make oxygen on Mars. Instead of bringing large amounts of oxygen, we can save money, fuel, etc.
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