NASA s Mars Helicopter to Make First Flight Attempt Sunday
Ingenuity s Blades Are Released: NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter unlocked its blades, allowing them to spin freely, on April 7, 2021, the 47th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This image was captured by the Mastcam-Z imager aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on the following sol, April 8, 2021. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU. Full image and caption ›
The small rotorcraft’s “Wright brothers moment” is two Mars days away.
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is two days away from making humanity’s first attempt at powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet. If all proceeds as planned, the 4-pound (1.8-kg) rotorcraft is expected to take off from Mars’ Jezero Crater Sunday, April 11, at 12:30 p.m. local Mars solar time (10:54 p.m. EDT, 7:54 p.m. PDT), hovering 10 feet (3 meters) above the surface for up to 30 seconds. Mission control specialists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern
Things to look forward to on Monday morn: Our Who, Me? column and 1st flight of Ingenuity
Richard Speed Fri 9 Apr 2021 // 17:29 UTC Share
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The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is set to take its first flight after engineers spun its blades up to 50rpm in preparation.
The downlink from the first flight is due on 12 April at 0730 UTC (0330 ET) with a postflight briefing scheduled for 1500 UTC (1100 ET). The dates currently carry a not earlier than prefix as engineers keep an eye on Martian conditions, but the testing of the diminutive device s rotors indicates there is every chance the first flight will go ahead.
NASA s Mars Helicopter to Make First Flight Attempt Sunday
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NASA s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is two days away from making humanity s first attempt at powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet. If all proceeds as planned, the 4-pound (1.8-kg) rotorcraft is expected to take off from Mars Jezero Crater Sunday, April 11, at 12:30 p.m. local Mars solar time (10:54 p.m. EDT, 7:54 p.m. PDT), hovering 10 feet (3 meters) above the surface for up to 30 seconds. Mission control specialists at NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California expect to receive the first data from the first flight attempt the following morning at around 4:15 a.m. EDT (1:15 a.m. PDT). NASA TV will air live coverage of the team as they receive the data, with commentary beginning at 3:30 a.m. EDT (12:30 a.m. PDT).
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NASA plans to fly the Mars helicopter Ingenuity, shown here with the rover Perseverance, on the Red Planet for the first time Sunday. Photo courtesy of NASA
NASA is targeting Sunday for the Mars helicopter Ingenuity to make the first attempt at a powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet. Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo
A photo of the Martian surface shows where the Mars helicopter Ingenuity will make its first flight, planned for Sunday night. Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo
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