Early Monday NASA celebrated the first powered, controlled flight on another planet after its Ingenuity helicopter rose into the Martian sky, hovered for a moment, then gently returned to the dusty surface. But how big a deal was this mini flight by a mini copter? Well, pretty big, especially the price tag of $85 million.
The pricey robotic craft climbed to an altitude of about 3 meters (9.9 ft.) on its maiden flight on Monday morning, having hitched a ride to Mars with NASA’s Perseverance rover, which touched down in February on a mission to search for signs of life.
The achievement was met with cheers and applause at mission control, but the magnitude is easy to miss because of the miniature scale of the craft. The tiny scale and mini achievement then sparks wonder and near disbelief when one cites its price tag of $85 million. Why so much? Because enormous research had to be invested in getting the 4 lb. copter to fly in Mars' thin atmosphere.
At the surface of Mars, the atmosphere is just 1/100th as dense as Earth’s, not much for helicopter blades to push against. Thus, the Bernoulli principle which works to keep aircraft aloft on Earth is next to useless on Mars- so drastic design changes are needed. In effect, to generate enough lift for the four-pound Ingenuity to rise up, its two rotors, each about four feet wide, had to spin in opposite directions at more than 2,500 revolutions a minute.
This created enough equivalent thrust - about 4.5 lbs. - thereby enabling it to hover at a height of some 10 feet for 30 seconds. (The 4.5 lbs. of upward thrust overcoming the downward acting 4 lbs. of weight.) Then it descended back to the surface. (See graphic above, showing craft after landing)
MiMi Aung, the Ingenuity project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), said:
“We can now say that human beings have flown a rotorcraft on another planet.”
Before the mission arrived on Mars, Aung told the UK Guardian that the 1.8 kg flying machine could pave the way for future craft that scout ahead of robotic rovers, or even human visitors to other planets, to explore terrain beyond their reach.
The craft is part of a technology demonstration – a project that aims to test a new capability for the first time.
Data from the helicopter’s flight returned to Earth a few hours after the autonomous test. Pictures showed a shadow of Ingenuity hovering above the planet’s surface, and a video showed it grounded on the surface.
The solar-powered craft’s 40-second flight marked a 21st-century Wright brothers moment for NASA, which said success could pave the way for new modes of exploration on Mars and other destinations in the solar system, such as Venus and Saturn’s moon Titan.
Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science, said the airfield on which the flight took place would be called Wright Brothers Field.
He said: “Now, 117 years after the Wright brothers succeeded in making the first powered airplane flight on Earth, we have done it on Mars."
Still, at $85 million we expect a lot more from these experiments and the prototype craft that made aerodynamic history 5 days ago. Given the obstacles surmounted in achieving even the short flight, be assured this was a very big deal - and bodes well for future space exploration.
No comments:
Post a Comment