Ingenuity- Mars 2020 Helicopter, Deployment & Operations Options

[Art Martin]

An anaglyph of the Nav Cam shots.

Ingenuity on Surface Anaglyph

[eliBonora]

Hazcam panorama

[djellison]

4 NCAM subframes each at 2x2 downsampled. I suspect this is the res we will see most of the time for drive direction Navcam images.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[fredk]

Do I see dust on the arrays already...?

One possibility is that we're seeing some reflected skylight on the solar panels.

I couldn't find whether the navcam sensors include IR cutoff filters. There shouldn't be any real need to include them, since colour accuracy isn't too important for the navcams and sensitivity is a plus. If they don't have IR filters, another idea is that the panels may look quite different in the IR.

Also the Martian soil is fairly dark, so these exposures make the helicopter look unusually bright.

[mcaplinger]

I couldn't find whether the navcam sensors include IR cutoff filters. There shouldn't be any real need to include them...

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11214-020-00765-9

Each [Navcam] lens assembly contains six individual lens elements and a fused silica UV and IR blocking filter mounted between the powered elements and the detector.

[neo56]

A mosaic of 2 Hazcam Left pictures taken on sol 43 and a Navcam Left picture taken on sol 44:

[Marvin]

Not sure where dust would have come from to have got to the top of Ingenuity.

When it was still attached, there was a gap between the solar panel and the bottom of the rover, so dust could have been deposited by the wind. But looking at the latest images, most of the panel seems clear. Probably more than enough to charge the battery.

[Andreas Plesch]

https://bit.ly/PercyMAP has been updated to show the latest drives, Ingenuity at its current position but exercising its rotors 4m up in the air, a closer default view, and with more links from recent way points. Also, the 3d scene code was simplified a bit.

[ChrisC]

https://bit.ly/PercyMAP has been updated to show the latest drives, Ingenuity at its current position but exercising its rotors 4m up in the air, a closer default view, and with more links from recent way points. Also, the 3d scene code was simplified a bit.

Could you add a "help" button that displays a paragraph of text or something that provides a basic explanation of how to use this? It looks truly excellent, if only I could figure out to move around, or do whatever is possible with it.

EDIT: OK, I found this earlier post which is a great start:

It is made using https://www.x3dom.org/ and a little javascript. One can zoom in (wheel or right mouse drag), pan (middle mouse drag) and re-center (double left click). The coordinates of the cross-hair are reported and left clicking adds the current position to a list, and calculates the distance from the last recorded point. For example, it turns out that the wind-carved walrus boulder (harbour seal) is about 12m away from the rover.

I think a lot of people will have trouble with the middle-mouse drag. Most hardware interfaces are lacking that capability (laptop touchpads, trackballs, mice with scroll wheels, etc.). Is there a reason that you didn't use left-click drag?

Scroll-to-zoom sense seems backwards to me, but I'll be happy to be shouted down on that.

Is there a way to tilt the scene? Your mention of "3D" implies yes but ... OH MAN I just clicked "overlook"! Wow! Yes! Add that to the help text!

[Art Martin]

A new update showed up on the rover website that even includes the first image taken by Ingenuity of the ground below it as it was deployed.

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8906/nasas-mars-...ght-on-its-own/

“This is the first time that Ingenuity has been on its own on the surface of Mars,” said MiMi Aung, Ingenuity project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “But we now have confirmation that we have the right insulation, the right heaters, and enough energy in its battery to survive the cold night, which is a big win for the team. We’re excited to continue to prepare Ingenuity for its first flight test.”

[James Sorenson]

Yikes. Do I see dust on the arrays already...?

There is plenty of slots cut and a gap of atleased 3 or 4 millimeters all around the debris shield. I'm thinking that dust on the panel was blown in through these gaps and slots during landing. There was a significant amount of dust and small pebbles at the bottom of the shield after it was dropped, which I can only fathom being blown in during EDL.

[Explorer1]

At the live Q and A today team members said the panels are getting all the power they need. No need to worry more than usual!

[James Sorenson]

Nope, I'm not worried. Just pointing that out. 🙂

[Marvin]

Here's an image taken from Ingenuity on April 3:



NASA's Mars Helicopter Survives First Cold Martian Night on Its Own

[Marvin]

There is plenty of slots cut and a gap of atleased 3 or 4 millimeters all around the debris shield. I'm thinking that dust on the panel was blown in through these gaps and slots during landing. There was a significant amount of dust and small pebbles at the bottom of the shield after it was dropped, which I can only fathom being blown in during EDL.

There was also dust at the bottom of the belly pan when it was dropped:



This was cropped from one of Eli's excellent posts.

There may have been dust blown into certain areas during EDL.

My only concerns would be:

1. Was the rover or helicopter damaged?
Doesn't look like it.

2. Could there be contamination of the cache system?
Unlikely, since the tubes are sealed. Besides it's still stuff from Mars.

3. Is there a better way to land a rover this size?
I don't think so.