NASA helicopter placed on Mars could make its first flight over the Mars within two days after a successful initial test of its rotors, the US space agency said Friday. The current plan for the first-ever attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet is for the four-pound (1.8kg) helicopter, dubbed the Ingenuity, to require faraway from Mars' Jezero Crater on Sunday at 10:54pm US Eastern Time (8:24 am IST) and hover 10 feet (3 metres) above the surface for a half-minute, NASA said.
"The helicopter is sweet , it's looking healthy," said Tim Canham, Ingenuity operations lead, during a news conference . "Last night, we did our 50 RPM spin, where we spun the blades very slowly and punctiliously ," he said.
The plan for Sunday is to possess it rise, flying only vertically, hover, and rotate for 30 seconds to require an image of the Perseverance rover, which touched down on Mars on February 18 with the helicopter attached to its underside.
Then the Ingenuity are going to be lowered backtrack onto the surface.
The flight are going to be autonomous, pre-programmed into the aircraft due to the quarter-hour it takes for signals to travel from Earth to Mars, and also thanks to the demanding environment of the distant planet.
“Mars is tough not only you land, but once you attempt to begin from it and fly around, too," said MiMi Aung, Ingenuity project manager.
She explained that the earth has significantly less gravity than Earth, but but one-hundredth the pressure of Earth's atmosphere at the surface.
The makes it necessary for the Ingenuity to be ready to spin its rotor blades much faster than a helicopter on Earth so as to fly.
"Put those things together, and you've got a vehicle that demands every input be right," said Aung.
NASA captured the test of the rotors during a short video shot from the rover just a couple of meters away, showing what seems like a little drone.
Aung said a second test would be conducted today, with the rotors running at high speed.
"The only uncertainty remains the particular environment of Mars," she said, mentioning possible winds.
NASA calls the unprecedented helicopter operation highly risky but says it could reap invaluable data about the conditions on Mars.
NASA plans up to 5 flights, each successively harder , during a period of a month.
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