It took less than a minute, but made history as the first controlled extraterrestrial flight.
Ingenuity, a propeller drone that arrived on Mars with NASA’s Perseverance robot, successfully made its first test takeoff, the service announced on Monday afternoon.
According to Howard Grip, chief engineer of Ingenuity, the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) has symbolically recognized the success by awarding the drone the official “INGENUITY” radio badge.
Perseverance, a six-wheeled robotic geologist whose main mission is to search for evidence of ancient life on Mars, videotaped the helicopter taking off from the desert surface and hovering for a few seconds at a height of 3 meters, before finally returning to the same place.
The drone itself, cost 85 million. dollars, does not carry scientific instruments, other than a small camera that will transmit the first aerial shots from an alien world.
The goal of the flights, which will continue for a few weeks, is to test the technology of flying in extraterrestrial atmospheres in practice, a candidate new approach to space exploration.
H NASA έχει ήδη εγκρίνει τη ρομποτική αποστολή Dragonfly, η οποία θα πετάξει πάνω από την επιφάνεια του Τιτάνα, του μεγαλύτερου δορυφόρου του Κρόνου, τη δεκαετία του 2030.
Πάντως η πρωτιά της πρώτης πτήσης εκτός Γης ανήκει στα σοβιετικά αερόστατα Vega που πέταξαν στην ατμόσφαιρα της Αφροδίτης τη δεκαετία του 1980.
Since Mars’ atmosphere is about 100 times thinner than Earth’s, Ingenuity was designed to be light, just 1.8 kilograms, and rotate its two propellers in opposite directions at a high speed of 2,500 revolutions per minute – about eight times faster than the average passenger helicopter on Earth.
The test flights will gradually become more complicated until the helicopter reaches an altitude of 300 meters.
The exploration continues
The Ingenuity test was the first to be carried out by the mission, after a thorough inspection of the Perseverance systems, which weighs a ton and is powered by a plutonium thermoelectric generator.
During the test flights of the drone the Perseverance will remain in the same position to videotape the operation
Around May, the main part of the mission will be ready to start exploring the Jezere crater near the equator on Mars.
Dry riverbeds and sediment deposits found in satellite observations testify that the crater basin once housed a large lake, fed by running water.
Η λίμνη ξεράθηκε πριν από περίπου τρία δισεκατομμύρια χρόνια, όταν ο Άρης έχασε τις θάλασσές του και μετατράπηκε στην παγωμένη έρημο που βλέπουμε σήμερα.
Μέχρι τότε όμως δεν αποκλείεται να είχε προλάβει να εξελίξει μικροβιακές μορφές ζωής, όπως εξάλλου είχε ήδη συμβεί την ίδια εποχή στη γειτονική Γη.
Perseverance carries cameras, lasers, drills and spectrometers to look for signs of ancient life.
He will also select the most promising specimens, which he will place in hermetically sealed cans that will be left on the surface of Mars.
In the next decade, a new mission will arrive to pick up the precious containers and transport them to Earth.
