{"id":211598,"date":"2021-03-25T23:29:09","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T20:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/every-step-taken-is-uncharted-territory\/"},"modified":"2021-03-25T23:29:09","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T20:29:09","slug":"every-step-taken-is-uncharted-territory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/every-step-taken-is-uncharted-territory\/","title":{"rendered":"#Every step taken is \u2018uncharted territory\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Every step taken is \u2018uncharted territory\u2019<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

NASA\u2019s\u00a0Ingenuity\u00a0Mars\u00a0helicopter is targeting no earlier than April 8 for the first-ever attempt at power and controlled\u00a0flight of an aircraft\u00a0on another\u00a0planet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a news<\/a> conference Tuesday, members of the agency\u2019s\u00a0California-based<\/a>\u00a0Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) explained that there are still a \u201cnumber of challenges ahead\u201d and that every single step of the process is unprecedented.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs with everything with the helicopter, this type of deployment has never been done before,\u201d said Farah Alibay, Mars Helicopter integration lead for the\u00a0Perseverance rover<\/a>. \u201cOnce we start the deployment there is no turning back. All activities are closely coordinated, irreversible, and dependent on each other. If there is even a hint that something isn\u2019t going as expected, we may decide to hold off for a [Martian day] or more until we have a better idea what is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Ingenuity can even try to fly in the Martian atmosphere, the 4-pound\u00a0rotorcraft\u00a0must first be deployed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Mar. 21, the Perseverance Mars rover \u2013 which carried Ingenuity to the red planet \u2013\u00a0dropped its debris shield<\/a>\u00a0that protected the helicopter and is currently en route to the\u00a033-by-33-foot \u201cairfield\u201d<\/a>\u00a0where Ingenuity will attempt its\u00a0first flight<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once the rover reaches its flight zone, it will take about a week to get the helicopter up and running.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Mars Helicopter Delivery System will rotate and release the helicopter about 5 inches\u00a0above the\u00a0surface. Perseverance then has 25 hours to move away to its \u201crover observation location.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ingenuity \u2013 which will be\u00a0autonomous and\u00a0charged by its own\u00a0solar panel<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 has a month-long window for up to five test flights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will go through a number of days of commissioning\u00a0\u2013 app<\/a>roximately a week \u2013 where we test our sensors, we test our solo mechanism, we test the motors to make sure they spin right. And, we will be very methodical and event-driven as this engineering experiment unfolds,\u201d\u00a0said Bob Balaram, Mars Helicopter chief engineer at JPL.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"This
This NASA photo obtained on March 24, 2021 shows an illustration depicting Mars Helicopter Ingenuity during a test flight on Mars. <\/figcaption>
NASA\/JPL-CALTECH\/AFP via Getty I<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAnd then, we will be at a point where we will undertake our first flight and then we will progressively undertake more flights once we understand and analyze all the behavior from that first flight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last week,\u00a0JPL announced<\/a>\u00a0that it had chosen a\u00a0flight zone just north of\u00a0Perseverance\u2019s landing site in Jezero Crater.<\/p>\n

In the conference, the team of\u00a0scientists\u00a0announced they would name the location in honor of their \u201ccolleague, mentor and leader,\u201d Jakob\u00a0van Zyl.<\/p>\n

Van Zyl passed away<\/a>\u00a0of a\u00a0heart attack<\/a>\u00a0in August of last year and joined JPL in 1986. Ingenuity was one of his final projects and Bobby Braun \u2013 JPL\u2019s director for planetary science<\/a> \u2013 said the engineer was the \u201cguiding force\u201d to their team.<\/p>\n

Once the rover is charged, has survived a frigid Martian night, and is ready to try to fly, Perseverance will receive and relay flight instructions to the helicopter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral factors will determine the precise time for the flight, including modeling of local wind patterns plus measurements taken by the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) aboard Perseverance. Ingenuity will run its rotors to 2,537 rpm and, if all final self-checks look good, lift off,\u201d NASA wrote in\u00a0a Tuesday news release<\/a>. \u201cAfter climbing at a rate of about 3 feet per second\u2026the helicopter will hover at 10 feet\u2026above the surface for up to 30 seconds. Then, the Mars Helicopter will descend and touch back down on the Martian surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"This
This NASA photo obtained on March 23, 2021, shows the flight zone of NASAs Ingenuity Helicopter from the perspective of the Perseverance rover. <\/figcaption>
NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS\/AFP via Ge<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Several hours later, Perseverance will pass data and possibly images and video from its cameras to the JPL team to determine whether or not their first flight was a success.<\/p>\n

Using what is provided to them, the engineers will then understand how best to proceed.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery step we have taken since this journey began six years ago has been uncharted territory in the history of aircraft,\u201d Balaram said. \u201cAnd while getting deployed to the surface will be a big challenge, surviving that first night on Mars alone, without the rover protecting it and keeping it powered, will be an even bigger one.\u201d<\/p>\n

What could go wrong?<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s an error or mistake, the process may take longer. Assuming that Ingenuity makes it through night one, however, the team will spend the next few Martian days wiggling rotor blades, testing the rotor system and verifying the performance of the inertial measurement unit.<\/p>\n

Worries aside, it\u2019s all making history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In recognition of that, a small amount of the material that covered one of the wings of the\u00a0Wright brothers\u2019<\/a>\u00a0Flyer is aboard Ingenuity \u2013 adhered beneath the helicopter\u2019s solar panel with an insulative tape.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, the\u00a0Apollo 11\u00a0NASA crew flew a different piece of the material and a splinter of wood from the Wright Flyer during the\u00a0July 1969 Moon Landing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"This
This NASA photo obtained on March 23, 2021 shows where the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter team will attempt its test flights. <\/figcaption>
NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/University of A<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n