Summary/Reader Response Final Draft

Ghod’s article “Mars helicopter Ingenuity: First aircraft to fly on Red Planet” (2021) announces that Ingenuity is the first aircraft to fly on Mars. Ingenuity is designed to be a technology demonstration to prove that powered flight is possible on Mars thin atmosphere (Gohd, 2021). According to NASA (n.d.-a), Ingenuity is an experimental flight test and does not carry any science instruments onboard. The components onboard Ingenuity are only for optimizing flight tests conducted on Mars and to send engineering data and imagery back to Earth (NASA, n.d.-a). 

As the atmospheric volume on Mars is less than 1% compared to Earth, Ingenuity is specially designed to be able to achieve its mission. To overcome the lack of atmosphere, Ingenuity is light and small, weighing at 0.68 kilograms on Mars while having a wingspan of 1.2 meters (Gohd, 2021). Furthermore, Ingenuity’s blades must spin at a high rate of 2500RPM due to the density of the atmosphere (Etherington, 2021). According to Gohd (2021), Ingenuity was able to perform beyond expectations when the aircraft flew past its listed flight altitude and flying longer than its expected flight time. In addition, Ingenuity reached a top speed of 13 kilometres per hour and covered 266 meters during its fourth flight (Gohd, 2021). Ingenuity was only expected to fly 5 times within 30 days of its operation on Mars, but has completed 33 flights since September 24, 2022 (NASA, n.d.-b). Besides expecting Ingenuity to fly and take pictures, Ravich speculates that Ingenuity can assist future robotic missions as it can access challenging terrain for humans and rovers (Gohd, 2021). Due to the successful technology demonstration, Ingenuity’s flight speed and potential future applications, the future of space exploration will be conducted through aerial vehicles instead of exploration rovers.

Ingenuity can achieve higher speeds than rovers. During Ingenuity’s fourth flight, the aircraft’s speed was recorded to reach 13 kilometres per hour and covered a distance of 266 meters (Gohd, 2021). In contrast, Mars Perseverance rover is only able to achieve a speed of 0.04 meters per second (Bartels, 2021). Rovers on Mars must travel slowly to ensure engineers on Earth can stop the rover in an emergency (Thompson, 2012). This is because signals travelling between Earth and Mars takes 5 to 20 minutes, depending on the planet’s positions (The Planetary Society, n.d). Ingenuity can bypass this and operate at a higher speed, as real time data is generated by onboard sensors that is used by the navigation processor and main flight computer to guide the helicopter (NASA, 2022). As a result, Ingenuity can react to the landscape autonomously (NASA, 2022). Exploration on Mars will therefore be faster as more ground can be covered within a shorter amount of time.

Besides travelling faster than rovers, aerial vehicles can act as a visual scout due to its ability to access difficult terrain. According to Grossman (2021), Ingenuity had performed as a scout for Perseverance rover during its ninth flight. Initially, South Séítah was thought to contain ridges that proved the rocks formed in deep water (Grossman, 2021). However, the trip for Perseverance would have been dangerous and Ingenuity was sent to make the trip instead (Grossman, 2021). Ingenuity was able to provide evidence that the ridges was not formed in deep water, saving Perseverance a long and dangerous drive (Grossman, 2021). This performance shows that aerial vehicles can be used to scout ahead in future space exploration, freeing up exploration rovers to perform other important tasks.

A problem with Ingenuity is its reliance on sunlight to charge its batteries. According to NASA (n.d.-a), a solar panel is positioned above its rotor system to charge the six lithium-ion battery system. This battery system is used to power the heaters to endure the cold temperatures at night on Mars, as well as to power the aircraft during flights (NASA, n.d.-a). However, lesser sunlight is available during a Martian dust storm, and this reduces Ingenuity’s ability to continue flying (Foust, 2022). A potential solution to this problem is to land Ingenuity on an inclined slope to increase the amount of sunlight received by the solar panels (Foust, 2022). Another solution would be to retain battery power by reducing the temperature where the heaters would be switched on (Foust, 2022).

In conclusion, Ingenuity proves that powered flight is possible on Mars. This technology demonstration shows the capabilities and advantages of aerial vehicles in comparison to exploration rovers and opens new possibilities for space exploration.

 

References

Bartels, M. (2021, July 3). NASA’s Perseverance rover is taking its own wheels for Mars drives. Space. https://www.space.com/perseverance-rover-self-driving-on-mars

Etherington, D. (2021, April 19). NASA makes history by flying a helicopter on Mars for the first time. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/19/nasa-makes-history-by-flying-a-helicopter-on-mars-for-the-first-time/#:~:text=Ingenuity%20has%20to%20rotate%20its,flying%20a%20helicopter%20on%20Mars%3F

Foust, J. (2022, May 30). Ingenuity “hunkering down” during Martian dust storms and winter. Space News. https://spacenews.com/ingenuity-hunkering-down-during-martian-dust-storms-and-winter/

Gohd, C.(2022, May 22). Mars helicopter Ingenuity: First aircraft to fly on Red Planet. Space. https://www.space.com/ingenuity-mars-helicopter-perseverance-rover

Grossman, L. (2021, December 10). Ingenuity is still flying on Mars. Here’s what the helicopter is up to. Science News.  https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ingenuity-helicopter-flying-mars-perseverance-nasa

NASA. (n.d.-a). Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Landing Press Kit. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/ingenuity/landing/mission/spacecraft/#:~:text=The%20helicopter's%20downward%2Dfacing%20black,real%20time%20during%20the%20flight.

NASA. (n.d.-b). Mars Helicopter Flight Log. https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/#Flight-Log

NASA. (2022, May 27). NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Captures Video of Record Flight. https://mars.nasa.gov/news/9197/nasas-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-captures-video-of-record-flight/

The Planetary Society. (n.d). Ingenuity, NASA’s Mars Helicopter.  https://www.planetary.org/space-missions/ingenuity

Thompson, M. (2012, August 5). Mars Curiosity rover: slower than a speeding snail. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2012/aug/05/mars-curiosity-rover-slower-speeding-snail