The Ingenuity Mars helicopter will attempt the first powered-flight on the red planet no earlier than April 8, says NASA. However, before this historic flight on Mars, Ingenuity has to complete a series of steps that will occur over the next couple of weeks.
It will test the four-pound rotorcraft’s ability to survive the harsh conditions of Mars without the help of Perseverance. NASA, in a statement, said that Ingenuity remains safely tucked up beneath the rover and attached to the rover’s power supply and the debris shield, which protected the helicopter during the February landing of the rover on Mars, was released March 21.
The American space agency said that the rover is currently driving to the nearby 33-by-33 foot airfield that Ingenuity’s team has chosen to test the helicopter’s flight. “After depositing Ingenuity on the surface, which is nice and flat, Perseverance will carefully back away and take pictures of the helicopter.” The process will take just over six days, with commands sent from teams on Earth to help release the locking mechanism holding the helicopter against the rover’s belly.
Farah Alibay, Mars helicopter integration lead for the Perseverance rover, in a statement said a cable-cutting pyrotechnic device will fire, which will enable an arm holding Ingenuity to rotate the helicopter, which is currently horizontal. It will follow a series of commands to unfold two of its landing legs. An electric motor will complete the rotation of the helicopter until its vertical and the other two landing legs will unfold.
“As with everything with the helicopter, this type of deployment has never been done before,” Alibay said. “All activities are closely coordinated, irreversible and dependent on each other. If there is even a hint that something isn’t going as expected, we may decide to hold off for a day or more until we have a better idea what is going on.”
Bob Balaram, Mars helicopter chief engineer at JPL, in a statement said once they cut the cord with Perseverance and drop those final five inches to the surface, they want the sun’s rays on the solar panel and begin recharging the batteries. “Then, the team will confirm Ingenuity is firmly sitting on the surface of Mars and communicating. Once it’s on the Martian surface, the helicopter will do some test wiggles and spins of the rotor blades. It will have to charge itself using its solar panel and withstand the freezing Martian nights, which can dip to negative 130 degrees Fahrenheit.”
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Ingenuity, according to NASA, will have 31 days to conduct its series of test flights, which could include up to five depending on the success of the first one. The first flight involves the helicopter lifting about 10 feet off the ground and hovering for about 30 seconds before landing.
