The Mars Ingenuity mini-helicopter’s attempt at the first powered, controlled flight on another planet has been delayed until at least Wednesday, April 14, NASA announced Saturday.
NEWS: We’re now targeting no earlier than Wednesday, April 14, for our Ingenuity #MarsHelicopter’s attempt at the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. Details: https://t.co/LaoY7zyijY pic.twitter.com/TIwlZ3foD1
— NASA (@NASA) April 10, 2021
NASA cited data sent from the helicopter Friday during a high-speed spin test of the rotor. Members of the helicopter team are reviewing the data to try to determine what happened.
What You Need To Know
- Mini-helicopter on Mars won’t attempt first flight until at least April 14
- Ingenuity had been scheduled to try to take off Sunday
- A “watchdog” timer ended a test of the aircraft’s rotor on Friday
- Ingenuity remains safe, according to team members
The helicopter is safe, NASA scientists said.
“The command sequence controlling the test ended early due to a ‘watchdog’ timer expiration,” according to NASA Science’s Mars Helicopter Tech Demo blog. “This occurred as it was trying to transition the flight computer from ‘Pre-Flight’ to ‘Flight’ mode.”
The watchdog timer is designed to alert NASA to any issues with the helicopter and to keep it from proceeding if it is not working as planned.
The 4-pound rotorcraft had been expected to take off Sunday at 12:30 p.m. local Mars solar time, or about 10:54 p.m. Eastern Time. When it does take off for the first time, it is expected to hover about 10 feet above the surface for up to 30 seconds. Ingenuity is expected to perform progressively more difficult missions and fly higher above Mars’s surface as part of the Perseverance program’s mission to study environmental conditions on Mars and determine whether life ever existed on the Red Planet.
“It’s going to be incredible and very challenging because of the much thinner Martian atmosphere,” Eric Ianson, NASA’s Planetary Science Division deputy director and Mars Exploration Program director said on February 18, the day Mars rover Perseverance landed on the Red Planet.
