Flying a helicopter on Mars is incredibly challenging for a bunch of reasons, including the very thin atmosphere (just 1% the density of Earth’s), the power requirements, and the communications limitations. Ingenuity isn’t intended to do anything complicated because everything about the Mars helicopter itself is inherently complicated already. Here’s an animation from JPL showing the most complex mission that’s planned right now: The importance and the value of the mission is to show that flight on Mars is possible, and to collect data that will enable the next generation of Martian rotorcraft, which will be able to do more ambitious and exciting things. If we’re lucky, the helicopter will take a couple of in-flight pictures, but that’s about it. Ingenuity won’t be doing any of the same sort of science that the Perseverance rover is designed to do. The primary goal here is to fly on Mars, full stop. It’s important to keep the Mars Helicopter mission in context, because this is a technology demonstration. To understand how NASA is making this happen, below is our conversation with Tim Canham, Mars Helicopter Operations Lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Which means that real-time communication or control is impossible. In order for this to work, Ingenuity has to survive frigid temperatures, manage merciless power constraints, and attempt a series of 90 second flights while separated from Earth by 10 light minutes. If everything goes according to plan, Ingenuity will become the first aircraft to fly on Mars. It weighs just 1.8kg, but the importance of its mission is massive. Its body is the size of a box of tissues, slung underneath a pair of 1.2m carbon fiber rotors on top of four spindly legs. Tucked under the belly of the Perseverance rover that will be landing on Mars in just a few days is a little helicopter called Ingenuity.
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