On August 12, NASA’s small Ingenuity helicopter completed its 55e flight to the red planet. A feat when on July 22, he had to land urgently after a synchronization problem. The JPL teams had cautiously installed an automated program that protected him: LAND_NOW!
He now has more than 12 kilometers of flight on the clock!
In case of problem…
Already in the spring, there had been a few frights. After landing behind a small ridge, the small Ingenuity helicopter was unable to communicate with the Perseverance rover (which is its essential relay to Earth) for several weeks… However, it takes more to stop this incredible little machine, which since the end of June has resumed its flights.
As a reminder, NASA barely hoped, by taking it to Mars, to demonstrate an ability to fly in the thin atmosphere of the red planet, and expected if all went well that it could fly three times.
Now, Ingenuity has been flying for almost two and a half years, and in mid-August, he completed his 55e flight, accumulating 12.5 kilometers traveled in almost 100 minutes in the air! The fact remains that a month ago, the team that takes care of the small helicopter was left with a good scare: for the very first time, Ingenuity had to land in disaster, with its LAND_NOW program (“Pose-toi straight away”, in French)!
Land immediately
” Since the very first flight, we have included a program called LAND_NOW, which is there to answer a few dozen scenarios where we encounter problems “Explains Teddy Tzanetos, head of the JPL laboratory team that pilots the helicopter, or at least sends him the instructions. Because with the signal transfer time, it is impossible to take control of the small vehicle: the latter flies autonomously, with very precise parameters sent to it a few hours earlier. And for its part, it is not just about flying as planned, Ingenuity analyzes the images from its sensors to know its own situation during the flight.
It is moreover a problem related to this analysis which occurred on July 22… For an unknown reason, the synchronization between the data of the inertial unit and the image capture was no longer correct, and the helicopter decided that the lag was too great. By activating LAND_NOW, it stops its horizontal movement and lands as quickly as possible. “ We were hoping to never have a LAND_NOW, but since it’s been enabled, it’s an interesting case study for future Ingenuity and vehicle flights! », says T. Tzanetos. And he did well: if the synchronization is too off, Ingenuity risks maneuvering too late and hitting something, or staying in the air too long… This self-diagnosis probably saved him the day!
Everything is in order ?
It was also necessary to make sure that the problem was not permanent. Also, for his 54e flight, JPL engineers asked Ingenuity to fly at an altitude of 10 meters… on the spot, and filmed by its big cousin, the Perseverance rover! The latter was not far away, and he turned his mast and his high-resolution lenses towards the small helicopter. Enough to produce beautiful images, but also and above all to reassure everyone. As a result, on August 12, Ingenuity flew 264 meters, at an altitude of around 10 meters and for 2 minutes and 24 seconds! The journey can continue!
Source : Nasa
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