NASA not too long ago launched a video exhibiting a pair of Mars helicopter rotor blades getting examined on the company’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The check occurred on Sept. 15, simply in the future earlier than NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter made a record-breaking flight on the Pink Planet.
With Ingenuity’s main success, NASA is planning to include helicopter-like drones into future Mars missions too, constructed with designs extra strong than their predecessor — which has accomplished 66 flights, and counting. The brand new twin rotor system not too long ago examined at JPL options two carbon-fiber blades measuring greater than 50 inches (1.3 meters) in diameter. That is almost 4 inches (10 centimeters) longer than Ingenuity’s are.
The rotors had been examined inside JPL’s 25-Foot Area Simulator, a vacuum chamber utilized by NASA engineers to show spacecraft programs to situations much like these they’ll face throughout a mission. The stainless steel compartment spans 85 ft (26 meters) in top, and might simulate the situations of utmost temperatures and photo voltaic radiation discovered within the vacuum of interplanetary area.
Associated: NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter flies on back-to-back days to prep for ‘photo voltaic conjunction’ (video)
Over the course of three weeks, the twin rotors had been spun at exponentially larger speeds to check their sturdiness. A NASA video from contained in the area simulation chamber reveals a Sept. 15 check throughout which the blades are spun at Mach 0.95, which is almost the pace of sound.
Coincidentally, Ingenuity accomplished a record-breaking flight simply the subsequent day. On Sept. 16, the Mars helicopter flew its 59th flight throughout the Martian floor, reaching an altitude of 66 ft (20 meters) — on the time, this marked its highest flight but.
That report was damaged throughout an Oct. 5 flight, nevertheless, throughout which Ingenuity flew to a top of 79 ft (24 meters).
Ingenuity landed on Mars with NASA’s Perseverance rover in Feb. 2021, and was initially meant to solely fly 5 instances in a proof-of-concept demonstration for this kind of flight expertise. Now, on an prolonged mission, the helicopter has spent almost 2 cumulative hours within the Martian air, and has flown throughout a complete of 9 miles.
The Sept. 16 flight stays a big milestone, and is notable for its prevalence alongside the terrestrial testing of its successor spacecraft parts solely the day earlier than.
Ingenuity is a check automobile itself, which has far surpassed its preliminary life expectancy — that NASA can execute near-simultaneous interplanetary flight exams of {hardware} in each simulated and off-world environments speaks immensely to humanity’s progress in area exploration as an entire.
It additionally undoubtedly highlights the area company’s dedication to proceed innovation into the ultimate frontier.
