The Helicopter-drone Was Installed On The Surface Of Mars. There Is A Date For The First Flight In History – Photo

Attached to the bottom of the American Perseverance rover, the Ingenuity reconnaissance helicopter was lowered to the surface of the Red Planet. This can be seen from the photographs from the archive of “raw” images on the website of the US Aerospace Administration.

 

The flying drone was not fixed to the rover in a “comfortable” upright position so that it could simply be picked up and lowered onto the ground. Together with the blades and supports, it was folded on the Earth in a certain way, and in order to lower it to the surface, it was first “unrolled”.

Click to enlarge:

Photo: NASA
Photo: NASA
Photo: NASA
Photo: NASA
Photo: NASA
Photo: NASA

Before releasing the helicopter, the rover charged its battery to 100%. After that, the drone will have to “survive” temperatures down to –90 ° C on the surface itself. “Next milestone? Survive the night!” The missions tweeted.

For the first time, the automated Ingenuity helicopter will demonstrate the possibility of flying in the atmosphere of another planet: it will look like this. The first flight is scheduled for April 11th.

Before this, the rover will move away from it at a safe distance, so that, in which case, it does not become the “target” of the falling drone.

The cost of the Ingenuity project is about ~ $ 85 million. According to NASA’s plan, the drone will make up to five flights.

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