Ingenuity- Mars 2020 Helicopter, Deployment & Operations |
Ingenuity- Mars 2020 Helicopter, Deployment & Operations |
Mar 7 2021, 04:35 PM
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#16
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Member Group: Members Posts: 122 Joined: 19-June 07 Member No.: 2455 |
I'm putting this in the Early Drives category because I believe that one of the primary purposes of these first drives is to find a spot for the helicopter.
Is anyone else wondering like I am just what the terrain needs to look like to set the helicopter down? It sure looks to me that the areas we're in right now are largely free of obstacles for flying and landing with no large rocks. Unless you go for some completely sand covered spot I'm not sure you're going to find any areas any more pristine. Does anybody have any info about what type of zone they are exactly looking for? Since the helicopter is not really designed to be used for investigation of terrain but more as just a proof of concept of flight, I would imagine the choice of area would be wide open and flat. Here's what I've got so far about upcoming events. 1. The helicopter below the rover limits ground clearance so it is vital that the helicopter phase be early in the drives so the rover is not limited in mobility. 2. The main purpose of the helicopter is proof of concept of Mars flight so the emphasis is not using it for exploration/route planning/research photography but merely that we can sustain flight - take off, fly autonomously, and land safely. 3. Once deposited on the surface, it will take a number of days of check outs prior to the first real flight. Should we create a new topic that is discussion about the helicopter? |
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Mar 14 2021, 04:24 PM
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#17
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Member Group: Members Posts: 122 Joined: 19-June 07 Member No.: 2455 |
Here's some comments I found on the Ingenuity press kit regarding the 60 days that had been used earlier and more info about the 5 flights. Bolding is by me.
"Once a suitable site to deploy the helicopter is found, the rover’s Mars Helicopter Delivery System will shed the landing cover, rotate the helicopter to a legs-down configuration, and gently drop Ingenuity on the surface in the first few months after landing. Throughout the helicopter’s commissioning and flight test campaign, the rover will assist in communications back and forth from Earth. The rover team also plans to collect some images of Ingenuity." That seems to indicate that the deployment and test could occur at any time up to 60 days. "Ingenuity will attempt up to five test flights within a 30-Martian-day (31-Earth-day) demonstration window." That's fascinating that they believe Ingenuity has the potential to last up to 30 SOLs. If tests go well I'm sure those 5 will get done as early in that window as possible to ensure that any early failures from the cold nights don't limit the number done. If you get them all done in a couple of weeks and the thing is still going strong I can't believe there's not the potential for extending past 5. |
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Mar 14 2021, 05:53 PM
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#18
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Member Group: Members Posts: 102 Joined: 12-August 12 Member No.: 6540 |
The rover team also plans to collect some images of Ingenuity. Ingenuity has a 13 MP color camera and 0.5 MP black and white navigation camera. So along with images of the terrain from altitude, I hope we get some images of Perseverance from Ingenuity as well. https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25530/mars-...ding-press-kit/ |
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Mar 14 2021, 06:07 PM
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#19
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2517 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 |
So along with images of the terrain from altitude, I hope we get some images of Perseverance from Ingenuity as well. If you read the press kit, you'll see that for safety reasons the helicopter never gets anywhere close to the rover (130ish meters), so this is not very likely, considering that the max altitude is stated as 5 meters. [edit: I don't know how wide the FOV of the "horizon facing" color camera is or how it's pointed, so maybe there is some possibility it can catch the rover.] -------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
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