NASA's Mars Ingenuity: First Flight Delayed Again? Here's What Happened

The Ingenuity helicopter's first flight on Mars is still on hold. Still, the mission's team is working to make it happen.

The first Red Planet flight of NASA's Ingenuity helicopter - the first-ever powered flight on a globe outside Earth - was supposed to occur on Sunday (April 11).

However, NASA had to reschedule the first flight after the helicopter returned data to task teams on Earth late Friday evening.

(Photo: NASA via Getty Image)
In this concept illustration provided by NASA, NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter stands on the Red Planet's surface as NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover (partially visible on the left) rolls away.

Ingenuity performed a high-speed evaluation of its rotors. The helicopter attempted to move the flight computer from preflight to flight mode when the test ended early. The command sequence was cut short due to an outdated watchdog timer.

The helicopter is in good health and is transmitting all of its data. The Ingenuity team put a variety of solutions to the test over the weekend. They concluded that the only way to resolve the problem is to upgrade and reinstall the helicopter's flight control software.

NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter: Why Hardware and Software Update is Necessary

The software update would alter how the helicopter's two flight controllers begin to operate. Both the hardware and software should have an easier time transitioning from preflight to flight due to this.

At NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where the mission is managed, the Ingenuity team updates these program modifications and validates them with testbeds.

Several steps must be taken right now to ensure that this update is completed before Ingenuity's first flight.

If the software solution has been designed, checked, and accepted, it must be loaded onto the Perseverance rover, which serves as Ingenuity's base station. The new software would then be loaded into the helicopter.

The rotors' high-speed evaluation and the first flight will have to be rescheduled after that.

ALSO READ: NASA's Mars Ingenuity Rover Prepares for Its First Flight; Watch it Live Here!

NASA Moves Mars Ingenuity First Flight To Next Week

According to the mission team, the progress will take time.

"Our best estimate of a targeted flight date is fluid right now, but we are working toward achieving these milestones and will set a flight date next week," according to an update from NASA. "We are confident in the team's ability to work through this challenge and prepare for Ingenuity's historic first controlled powered flight on another planet."

Thankfully, Ingenuity's power, thermal control, and communications systems are still working.

NASA officials said the helicopter is a technology demonstration, which means it's an experiment to try out ideas, so these difficulties are to be anticipated.

It also means that each move leading up to the first powered managed flight on another planet is being carefully planned by the Ingenuity team.

About Ingenuity's Mission

NASA officials have stated that if Ingenuity's month-long flight campaign is successful, potential Mars missions will include helicopters as scouts for rovers or data gatherers in their own right.

The 4-pound helicopter can fly for around 40 seconds overall before Ingenuity can fly on Mars for the first time. The aircraft will spin up its two 4-foot blades, climb 10 feet (3 meters) into the air, hover, transform, take a snapshot, and return to Mars.

So far, the tiny helicopter has accomplished a number of goals, including wiggling its blades and navigating the frigid nights on Mars.

It now has to travel across the thin Martian atmosphere without the assistance of its Earth-based teams. Radio waves require 15 minutes and 27 seconds to travel the 173 million mile distance between Earth and Mars (278.4 million kilometers).

Perseverance parked itself at a distance of 215 feet (65 meters) from the helicopter, allowing it to comfortably observe and record Ingenuity's flight.

RELATED ARTICLE: NASA's Mars Ingenuity Helicopter Brings Part of Wright Brothers' 1903 Plane to Red Planet

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