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NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Succeeds in Historic First Flight
NASA ^ | April 19, 2021

Posted on 04/19/2021 7:11:40 AM PDT by Ezekiel


Ingenuity's First Black-and-White Image From the Air: NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took this shot while hovering over the Martian surface on April 19, 2021, during the first instance of powered, controlled flight on another planet. It used its navigation camera, which autonomously tracks the ground during flight. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Full image and caption >

The small rotorcraft made history, hovering above Jezero Crater, demonstrating that powered, controlled flight on another planet is possible.

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).

(Excerpt) Read more at mars.nasa.gov ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aviation; ingenuity; mars; mars2020; marshelicopter; perseverance
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1 posted on 04/19/2021 7:11:40 AM PDT by Ezekiel
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To: Ezekiel

They will look back on these as the good old days when NASA was something other than a tool for social engineering.


2 posted on 04/19/2021 7:14:58 AM PDT by brownsfan (Term limits! Without term limits, we are doomed.)
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To: Ezekiel

I’m curious how that device works, considering how thin the atmosphere is on Mars, how do the copter blades provide lift to the drone...


3 posted on 04/19/2021 7:15:56 AM PDT by srmanuel
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To: FReepers


Click the Pic


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4 posted on 04/19/2021 7:16:42 AM PDT by deoetdoctrinae (Become a monthly donor and stamp out FReepathons.)
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To: srmanuel

Looks like counter rotating rotors. Must spin pretty fast. I don’t recall the make up of Mars atmosphere.


5 posted on 04/19/2021 7:18:20 AM PDT by refermech
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To: srmanuel

“NASA plans a series of tests before that first flight to fire up Ingenuity’s four rotor blades (they spin at up to 2,537 revolutions per minute)”

An Earth one does 500-600 per minute.


6 posted on 04/19/2021 7:18:39 AM PDT by Shadylake
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To: srmanuel

Don’t quote me on this but I recall that it has to do with blade rotation and this guy is in the neighborhood of 2500 rpm which is suppose to be six times the normal needed to lift off due to the lack of atmosphere.


7 posted on 04/19/2021 7:19:36 AM PDT by DoubleNickle
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To: Ezekiel

They should fly it over the rover and blow that dust off of it.


8 posted on 04/19/2021 7:21:45 AM PDT by Pollard ( )
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To: Pollard

Why? The rover is nuclear powered. Doesn’t matter how much dust is on it really.


9 posted on 04/19/2021 7:22:39 AM PDT by Shadylake
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To: Shadylake

https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2021/04/nasa-fears-for-its-insight-mars-rover-which-has-dust-covering-its-solar-panels/

Solar


10 posted on 04/19/2021 7:25:09 AM PDT by Pollard ( )
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To: refermech

Here’s an article about the atmosphere on Mars..

It’s supposedly 100 times thinner than the atmosphere on Earth....or approximately 1% of the density of Earth’s atmosphere....

I read in another article the Mars atmosphere is like being 22 miles up in Earth’s atmosphere...

Over 95% of the atmosphere is made up of C02....

https://www.space.com/16903-mars-atmosphere-climate-weather.html


11 posted on 04/19/2021 7:26:21 AM PDT by srmanuel
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To: Pollard

It’s endless miles away from that Insight lander you linked to.


12 posted on 04/19/2021 7:26:26 AM PDT by Shadylake
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To: brownsfan

Actually, I think we will look back on these days as the peak of science before it all became politicized and funding ran out due to the coming collapses of world economies.


13 posted on 04/19/2021 7:27:07 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (We are being played by forces most do not understand)
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To: srmanuel

C02 is heavier than air so having more mass helps negate the thin atmosphere. I think.


14 posted on 04/19/2021 7:30:33 AM PDT by refermech
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To: srmanuel

See Post #4.


15 posted on 04/19/2021 7:33:20 AM PDT by BobL (TheDonald.win is now Patriots.win)
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To: srmanuel

“Over 95% of the atmosphere is made up of C02....”

Just as Greta suspected, climate change!


16 posted on 04/19/2021 7:33:23 AM PDT by brownsfan (Term limits! Without term limits, we are doomed.)
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To: srmanuel

“Over 95% of the atmosphere is made up of C02....”

And yet the planet is ‘cold as hell’, at least according to Elton John.


17 posted on 04/19/2021 7:34:41 AM PDT by BobL (TheDonald.win is now Patriots.win)
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To: Erik Latranyi

“Actually, I think we will look back on these days as the peak of science before it all became politicized and funding ran out due to the coming collapses of world economies.”

Actually, I think we’re 50-plus years beyond ‘peak science’, when you look at what we were doing back then.

But yea, it’s over - we let the Left win.


18 posted on 04/19/2021 7:36:03 AM PDT by BobL (TheDonald.win is now Patriots.win)
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To: Shadylake

It’s a wonder with the blades spinning that fast in the thin atmosphere of Mars that it doesn’t come apart and disintegrate...


19 posted on 04/19/2021 7:38:51 AM PDT by srmanuel
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To: Pollard

That’s a different rover.


20 posted on 04/19/2021 7:43:29 AM PDT by IndispensableDestiny
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