Ingenuity’s flight to Mars is delayed again as NASA fixes a software bug

Last week, the first flight of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter was delayed again after the rotorcraft’s flight control software was messed up during tests. The mini chopper remains on the surface of Mars’ Jazero Crater, while it waits for engineers to re-test, test and reinstall the software. NASA said it would come up with a new date next week for the inaugural flight test.

Ingenuity, a four-pound helicopter that came to Mars on February 18 with its original rover, the Perseverance, is in a nine-month test window that began when its four small legs touched the Martian surface for the first time on April 4. . The helicopter is undergoing a series of tests and checkouts before flying, including surviving its first faint night on Mars, unlocking its twin carbon fiber blades, and performing some stationary rotor spin tests.

The first slow-motion rotor spin at 50 rpm went well last week, while NASA was working toward a maiden flight on Sunday night. But engineers ran into a problem Friday night when they went for a high-speed rotor test: Ingenuity’s “watchdog” software detected a bug and prevented the craft from testing. The congenital was healthy, it just couldn’t spin a high-speed rotor.

Over the weekend, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory decided that “Ingenuity’s flight control software is the strongest path for minor modifications and reevaluations on NASA’s Monday night.” blog post. Changing the software means that independent engineers will have to review and test the changes before installing it back on Ingenuity’s computer, a process that can take weeks to complete.

NASA / JPL

NASA said “Our best estimate of the date of a target flight right now is liquid, but we are working towards achieving these milestones and will set a flight date next week.” Engineers will come up with a new date for the high-speed test and its first flight, when they strongly ship new software through the communications hub and boot it to Ingenuity.

Meanwhile, NASA said that Perseverance will continue science and prepare for the test of MOXIEE, an onboard device that will try to produce oxygen from Mars’ carbon dioxide atmosphere. The rover’s primary mission is to search for signs of ancient life and leave pods of soil on the surface to retrieve future missions and send them back to Earth.

For Ingenuity’s flight test, Perseverance will watch from a distance of a football field using two onboard cameras. The rover also serves as a communication center; Its onboard Mars base station will relay signals from Ingenuity to satellites orbiting Mars, which will bring those signals back to Earth.

Ingenuity hopes to conduct at least five flight tests within its 31-day test window (or 30 Mars days). For its first flight test, the craft would climb 10 feet above the surface and spindle in place, then land for landing, for about 40 seconds. Subsequent tests are expected to fly higher and travel shorter distances, but accurate flight details will determine how good the first flight of the craft was.

Simplicity would need to be overpowered to achieve lift in the thin atmosphere of Mars. If it can do so, it will mark the first powered flight to another world, a historic feat NASA is calling a “Wright brother’s moment” that traditional wheelchair rovers cannot travel.

The innate carbon fiber rotor blade will spin at approximately 2,400 rpm during flight. For the first high-speed spin test, the blade will spin at 2,537 rpm (while tilted to a fixed position so it does not lift by mistake). As engineers twisted the craft’s software, the clock kept ticking. NASA officials have said that the month-long flight test window of Ingenuity cannot be extended if the helicopter runs over more issues before taking off.

“Primarily is a science mission for Perseverance Rover, and it needs to be achieved with that primary mission,” explained Invernity’s chief pilot, Haverward Gripe The Reporter Door on Saturday night. “So that’s the time limit for the helicopter.”