Perseverance Rover

Mars reconnasisance

First helicopter on another planet could
glow in the dark

Jonathan O'Callaghan

Nasa is about to fly a helicopter on Mars, and it turns
out that its rotors could glow in the dark.

A few weeks after the Perseverance rover lands on Mars
(see "Martian Invasion", left) it will deploy a 0.5-metre-
high drone called Ingenuity.

The drone will conduct up to five flights in a 30 day
window. Each will increase in duration, to a maximum
of about 90 seconds.

William Farrell at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
in Maryland and his colleagues say the flights, which
are a technical demonstration, also afford a unique
scientific opportunity. The low atmospheric pressure
on Mars, coupled with its dusty environment and carbon
dioxide-rich atmosphere, could produce an electric
charge on the blades strong enough to break down
atmospheric moecules, says the team (arxiv.org/abs/2102.
04181).

Modelling this breakdown in the lab showed that it is
unlikely to damage Ingenuity, but could be visible at
take-off and landing in low light, producing a soft glow
or "corona" on the blades. Something similar, known
as the Kopp-Etchells effect, can happen to helicopters
on Earth.

"We suggest that operations occur once at twilight so
that any corona-like glow [can] be observed by
Perseverance in the low light environment," the team
writes.

Perseverance will use its cameras to record Ingenuity's
flights, so might be able to see this effect. Joshua Ravich
at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, the
helicopter's mechanical engineering lead, says the team
hasn't yet decided whether to attempt a flight at twilight.
"We think that would be pretty interesting to see," he says.
"Unfortunately, we are mostly planning to fly mid-morning
because of better wind conditions and thermal conditions."

Even if a twilight flight was tried, Perseverance's cameras
might not be sensitive enough to see the effect. "But it
would be pretty cool," says Ravich.


New Scientist, Special Issue, 20th February 2021
Click to expand...
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1362831462999949313
View: https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1362831462999949313


More high-res images and potentially video from the rover’s landing should be ready by Monday, project officials say.
Click to expand...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1362832286429958146
View: https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1362832286429958146


NASa’s Pauline Hwang, asked how many images they’ve received, said it’s “more than I can count” at least in thumbnails. No exact number, though.

The raw images repository still only has the initial three hazcam images.
Click to expand...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1362832883359096833
View: https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1362832883359096833


Adam Steltzner, Perseverance chief engineer, says they hope to know this weekend if a microphone recorded any data during the descent.
Click to expand...
 
FighterJock said:
Grey Havoc said:
TomcatViP said:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-mars-helicopter-reports-in
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Good to see that the Mars Helicopter has survived the landing as well. Cannot wait to see it fly next week.
Click to expand...

It's not flying next week. More like a month from now at soonest.

The first 10 days/sols are rover system checks and the first roll. Then they have to look for a nice flat spot to deploy Ingenuity. Then they take multiple sols to actually deploy the helicopter form the rover. Then they have to drive the rover away to clear room for the flights. Etc. My undertanding is that the schedule calls for the flights to occur 30-60 sols into the mission..
 
TomS said:
FighterJock said:
Grey Havoc said:
TomcatViP said:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-mars-helicopter-reports-in
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Good to see that the Mars Helicopter has survived the landing as well. Cannot wait to see it fly next week.
Click to expand...

It's not flying next week. More like a month from now at soonest.

The first 10 days/sols are rover system checks and the first roll. Then they have to look for a nice flat spot to deploy Ingenuity. Then they take multiple sols to actually deploy the helicopter form the rover. Then they have to drive the rover away to clear room for the flights. Etc. My undertanding is that the schedule calls for the flights to occur 30-60 sols into the mission..
Click to expand...

Thanks for the extra information TomS.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom