Flight to Mars: The ingenuity helicopter is on the ground

NASA’s mini helicopter Ingenuity, Built under the rover that landed on Mars in February Perseverance, Has just broken and is now on the surface of the Red Planet, NASA announced.

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“Mars helicopter is on the ground!” The U.S. space agency’s lab tweeted that it would host the event on Saturday evening.

This ultralight helicopter, which looks like a large drone, collapsed and landed under the rover Perseverance, Landed on Mars on February 18 and remained there until the rover landed.

“His journey is 293 million miles [471 millions de kilomètres] That ended with a small 4 inch jump [10 cm] From the belly Rover To the surface of Mars. Next test: Live the night, ”the lab tweeted again.

Shown a photo along with the tweet Perseverance Moving away from the helicopter. Since the helicopter needs the sun to energize the solar panels, he must clear his vision within exactly 25 hours, as Martin can survive by warming up on icy nights.

Ingenuity So far it has played the power of the rover, but now it has to defend itself.

“There is a small radiator inside the helicopter that allows it to maintain a temperature of 7 C, but night temperatures on Mars can drop to -90 C,” said Bob Balaram, chief engineer of the Mars Helicopter Project.

“It helps protect the device’s core equipment,” he says.

Over the next two days, ground crews will confirm that the solar panels are working as expected, before testing the motors and sensors before the first flight, which is not expected to happen until April 11.