Ingenuity Takes Flight

Today, April 19, 2021, Ingenuity finally took flight. The rotorcraft was scheduled for its autonomous flight to place at 12:31 a.m. EDT. During the flight, Ingenuity would reach a max height of 10 feet and land after 40 seconds of hovering. However, scientists wouldn’t receive the data right away. After hours of anxious waiting, they finally received data at 6:15 a.m. EDT from Perseverance that Ingenuity’s flight was successful. Perseverance and Ingenuity sent back pictures of the rotorcraft in flight.

Image Captured by Ingenuity During Flight

This maiden flight was a huge achievement that was achieved by the countless engineers and scientists at JPL. Ingenuity is the first-ever rotorcraft to be flown outside of Earth. Ingenuity is one of the many experiments aboard Perseverance that will help us to determine how next we should explore Mars. With Ingenuity’s flight being a success, scientists may start designing the next generation of rovers to be drones. NASA’s team at JPL who was in charge of Ingenuity were ecstatic that the flight was a success. They named the airfield where Ingenuity had its inaugural flight the Wright Brothers Field after the Wright Brothers, who were pioneers of airplanes and flight.  

As mentioned before, Ingenuity is one of the many experiments that was carried to Mars by Perseverance. The $85 million dollar rotorcraft weighs just 4 pounds but can spin its blades at 2400 RPM. This is very important because the Martian atmosphere is 1% as dense as Earth’s atmosphere. Additionally, the gravity on Mars is just 38% of that on Earth (about 3.721 m/s²). Ingenuity is not focused on gathering data. Instead, Ingenuity is a test to see if a rotorcraft on Mars is possible.

Ingenuity Team Celebrates Maiden Flight

And the test flight on Mars proves that it is possible. Ingenuity’s maiden flight was done autonomously with no real-time control. This is because of the delay of data between Earth and Mars, which is about 8 minutes. Before the flight, Ingenuity completed all of its pre-flight checks. The rotorcraft then spun its carbon-fiber blades at 2400 RPM and took flight. Originally, the maiden flight was supposed to happen on April 9, 2021. However, it was delayed due to an issue with its “watchdog timer” and Ingenuity failed to transition into flight mode. The test flight was then later delayed to April 14, 2021. However, it was pushed even further back to troubleshoot some issues. Finally, on April 17, 2021, the Ingenuity team announced that they had found the bug and that they had installed a software patch. Finally, today, Ingenuity took flight, snapping a few photos in the process.

Ingenuity's Rotors Spinning

If all goes according to plan, Ingenuity will fly 4 more times till its experimental period ends. During the next few flights, Ingenuity will fly higher and farther. During its second and third flights, Ingenuity will reach a maximum height of 16.5 feet and travel downrange more than 165 feet. The Ingenuity team has announced that if flights two and three are successful, flights four and five will be even more ambitious. During all of these flights, Perseverance will serve as communication between the scientists at JPL and Ingenuity. It will also help to take pictures of the flight. However, these flights all have to take place within a time period of a month because Perseverance has a number of other missions it needs to work on in Jezero Crater.

Ingenuity marks the next generation of planetary exploration. If all goes successful with the rest of the Ingenuity flights, the next generation of Mars rovers may just be drones after all. 

Ingenuity's Maiden Flight Seen From Perseverance

Sources:

“Ingenuity (Helicopter).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Apr. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingenuity_(helicopter). 

“Mars.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Apr. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars. 

Pradhan, Arnav. Touchdown for Ingenuity, Blogger, 4 Apr. 2021, www.theaceofspace.org/2021/04/touchdown-for-ingenuity.html. 

Wall, Mike. “NASA's Mars Helicopter Ingenuity Takes off on Historic 1st Powered Flight on Another World.” Space.com, Space, 19 Apr. 2021, www.space.com/mars-helicopter-ingenuity-first-flight-success.