space.com NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity touches down on the Red Planet

[UltraMega]

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NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity touched down on the surface of the Red Planet after being dropped by its mother ship, the Perseverance rover, the space agency announced late Saturday (April 4). The helicopter's first flight is just over a week away.

 

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Weighing in at just 4 lbs. (1.8 kilograms), Ingenuity is a tiny, solar-powered helicopter that relies on a rechargeable battery to keep its systems warm during the harsh Martian night. Until today, Ingenuity has been attached to Perseverance's belly, feeding off the rover's nuclear-powered system to stay warm. 

 

Now, the helicopter is using its internal battery to power a vital heater.

 

"This heater keeps the interior at about 45 degrees F through the bitter cold of the Martian night, where temperatures can drop to as low as -130 F (minus 90 degrees Celsius)," NASA's Bob Balaram, chief engineer for the Mars Helicopter project, wrote in a status update Friday (April 2). "That comfortably protects key components such as the battery and some of the sensitive electronics from harm at very cold temperatures."

 

Ingenuity is expected to make its first flight on April 11, with the data from that test reaching Earth on April 12, NASA officials have said.

https://www.space.com/mars-helicopter-ingenuity-touches-down-martian-surface

 

Interesting facts:

4 pounds on Earth, less than 2 pounds on Mars. (Mars has about 38% of Earth gravity) 

 

Mars has an atmosphere, but it's only about 1% as dense as earth's so if this thing is able to fly on mars it will be an amazing achievement. 

Edited April 4, 2021 by UltraMega

[Supercrumpet]

Very cool stuff, I've been loosely watching news on Perseverance.

 

Update from the day after/a couple days ago now:
https://www.space.com/mars-helicopter-ingenuity-first-flight-preview

Edited April 7, 2021 by Supercrumpet