"Mars helicopter" redirects here. For Mars aircraft in general, see Mars aircraft.
"Wright Brothers Field" redirects here. For other uses, see Wright Field (disambiguation).

Ingenuity, also called Ginny, is a small robotic helicopter operating on Mars. It is part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission, along with the Perseverance rover, which landed with Ingenuity attached to its underside on February 18, 2021. The helicopter was deployed to the surface on April 3, 2021.[4][5] On April 19, it successfully made the first powered controlled extraterrestrial flight by an aircraft, taking off vertically, hovering, and landing for a flight duration of 39.1 seconds.[6][7][8] As of its 52nd flight on April 27, 2023 (UTC), the helicopter has been flightworthy for 737 days.[9]

Ingenuity was designed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in collaboration with AeroVironment, NASA's Ames Research Center and Langley Research Center.[10] Other prominent contributors were Lockheed Martin Space, Qualcomm, and SolAero.[11]

The helicopter was intended to perform a 30-day technology demonstration, making five flights at altitudes ranging 3–5 m (10–16 ft) for up to 90 seconds each.[1][12] It started its mission on Mars at the Octavia E. Butler Landing site in the 28 mi (45 km) wide Jezero crater.[13][14][15] Before Ingenuity's first flight, Perseverance drove approximately 100 m (330 ft) away to create a safe flying zone.[16][17] Flight success was confirmed three hours later by JPL, which livestreamed a view of mission control receiving the data.[18][19][20] On its fourth flight, on April 30, 2021, Ingenuity became the first interplanetary spacecraft whose sound was recorded by another interplanetary spacecraft, Perseverance.[21]

The expected lateral range was exceeded in the third flight, and the flight duration was exceeded in the fourth. The flights demonstrated the helicopter's ability to fly in the extremely thin atmosphere of Mars without direct human control. Because radio signals take 5 to 20 minutes to travel between Earth and Mars depending on planetary positions,[22] Ingenuity must operate autonomously, performing maneuvers planned, scripted and transmitted to it by JPL.

After the brief demonstration phase, JPL began more operational flights, showing how aerial scouting could aid in the exploration of Mars and other worlds.[23][24] In its operational role, Ingenuity is observing areas of interest for possible examination by Perseverance.[25][26][1][27] The helicopter's performance and resilience greatly exceeded expectations, enabling it to make flights for the remainder of 2021 and into 2022. In March 2022, NASA announced that it would continue to fly Ingenuity through at least September.[28] As of April 2023, it continues to execute flights, providing science and tactical scouting to Perseverance.

History

Concept development

The prototype, which for the first time carried out on May 31, 2016 in a pressure chamber controlled flight in an atmosphere identical to that of Mars

The development of the project that would eventually become Ingenuity started in 2012 when JPL director Charles Elachi toured and met with members of the Autonomous Systems Division at JPL. The idea for the project drew on prior concept work in the division. By January 2015, NASA agreed to fund the development of a full-size model, which came to be known as the "risk reduction" vehicle.[29] NASA's JPL and AeroVironment published the conceptual design in 2014 for a scout helicopter to accompany a rover.[10][30][31] By mid-2016, $15 million was being requested to continue development of the helicopter.[32] By December 2017, engineering models of the vehicle had been tested in a simulated martian atmosphere[27][33] and models were undergoing testing in the Arctic, but its inclusion in the mission had not yet been approved or funded.[34]

Mission integration

At the time of the approval of the Mars 2020 program in July 2014,[35] a helicopter flight demonstration was neither scoped nor budgeted.[36]

The United States federal budget, announced in March 2018, provided $23 million for the helicopter for one year,[37][38] and it was announced on May 11, 2018, that the helicopter could be developed and tested in time to be included in the Mars 2020 mission.[39] The helicopter underwent extensive flight-dynamics and environment testing,[27][40] and was mounted on the underside of the Perseverance rover in August 2019.[41] NASA spent about $80 million to build Ingenuity and about $5 million to operate the helicopter.[42]

In 2019, preliminary designs of Ingenuity were tested on Earth in simulated Mars atmospheric and gravity conditions. For flight testing, a large vacuum chamber was used to simulate the very low pressure of the atmosphere of Mars – filled with carbon dioxide to approximately 0.60% (about 1⁄160) of standard atmospheric pressure at sea level on Earth – which is roughly equivalent to a helicopter flying at 34,000 m (112,000 ft) altitude in the atmosphere of Earth. In order to simulate the much-reduced gravity field of Mars (38% of Earth's), 62% of Earth's gravity was offset by a line pulling upwards during flight tests.[43] A "wind-wall" consisting of almost 900 computer fans was used to provide wind in the chamber. [44][45]: 1:08:05–1:08:40 

In April 2020, the vehicle was named Ingenuity by Vaneeza Rupani, a girl in the 11th grade at Tuscaloosa County High School in Northport, Alabama, who submitted an essay into NASA's "Name the Rover" contest.[46][47] Known in planning stages as the Mars Helicopter Scout,[48] or simply the Mars Helicopter,[49] the nickname Ginny later entered use in parallel to the parent rover Perseverance being affectionately referred to as Percy.[50] Its full-scale engineering model for testing on Earth - Earth Copter and unofficially Terry.[51]

Ingenuity was designed to be a technology demonstrator by JPL to assess whether such a vehicle could fly safely. Before it was built, launched and landed, scientists and managers expressed hope that helicopters could provide better mapping and guidance that would give future mission controllers more information to help with travel routes, planning, and hazard avoidance.[39][52][53] Based on the performance of previous rovers through Curiosity, it was assumed that such aerial scouting might enable future rovers to safely drive up to three times as far per sol.[54][55] However, the new AutoNav capability of Perseverance significantly reduced this advantage, allowing the rover to cover more than 100 meters per sol.[56]

Development team

The team photo from 2018 shows the relatively small size of the group responsible for developing Ingenuity

The Ingenuity team was comparatively small, with never more than 65 full-time-equivalent employees at JPL. Program workers at AeroVironment and NASA AMES and Langley research centers brought the total to 150.[29] Key personnel include:

On June 15, 2021, the team behind Ingenuity was named the 2021 winner of the John L. "Jack" Swigert, Jr. Award for Space Exploration from the Space Foundation.[76] On April 5, 2022, the National Aeronautic Association awarded Ingenuity and its group in JPL the 2021 Collier Trophy.[77][78]

Opposition to the helicopter

See also: Mars 2020

The idea to add a helicopter to a Mars mission was opposed by multiple people. Up until the end of the 2010s, several NASA leaders, scientists and JPL employees actively put forward counterarguments against the integration of a helicopter into the next expedition. For three years, the future Ingenuity has been developed outside the Mars 2020 project and its budget.[12][79] When NASA management accepted assurances in the spring of 2018 that the addition of a helicopter would not harm the goals of the expedition, the chief scientist of this project[80] Kenneth Farley stated that it does not follow from the fact that Ingenuity was taken on board that the team supported this decision even with guarantees of no risk.[81] Farley was convinced that the helicopter was a distraction of a group of scientists from a priority scientific task, unacceptable even for a short time.[81]

Comparison of total distance traveled between Ingenuity and Perseverance.[a]

The skepticism on the part of NASA leadership was not unfounded. Scientists, engineers and managers proceeded from a pragmatic comparison of the benefits of additional aerial reconnaissance with the costs that inevitably fall on the schedule for the rover to complete all the tasks assigned to it. Arguing with MiMi Aung on the air of a joint conference, Jennifer Trosper warned that thanks to auto-navigation, the rover ultimately outpaces the helicopter. These calculations were first confirmed in the spring of 2022 when by the beginning of Sol 400 the helicopter did not take a leading position on the track along the slopes of the delta, although it covered a distance several times less than the rover. Due to the increased loss of time for recharging and transmitting telemetry, the attempt to bring the helicopter to the position of the route plotter, planned during the ascent to the delta, also failed.[82]

At the end of the "test window", NASA extended support for Ingenuity for another 30 sols, limiting the frequency of departures to 1 flight every few weeks. Later on, some of NASA's senior leaders seized the opportunity to dampen their enthusiasm for the Martian helicopter. Thus, addressing directly all the staff of the Mars 2020 project, the director of the Mars exploration program E. Janson and the principal Mars explorer M. Meyer urged the staff to “be highly disciplined and concentrate on collecting samples”.[83] At the same time, in their report to the Planetary Advisory Committee (PAC) on June 14, 2021, the helicopter was mentioned only in the past tense: "placed Ingenuity and completed the technology demonstration phase".[83]

Despite this early pessimism, Ingenuity has since proved to be more than capable of keeping up with Perseverance, actually staying ahead of the rover for the majority of the traverse up the Jezero delta.[84] Insufficient solar energy during the Martian winter was the main driver of poor operational performance in the latter half of 2022.[85]

Design

Mechanical design

The main components of Ingenuity

Ingenuity consists of a rectangular fuselage measuring 136 mm × 195 mm × 163 mm (5.4 in × 7.7 in × 6.4 in) suspended below a pair of coaxial counter-rotating rotors measuring 1.21 m (4 ft) in diameter.[1][33][49] This assembly is supported by four landing legs of 384 mm (15.1 in) each.[1] It also carries a solar array mounted above the rotors to recharge its batteries. The entire vehicle is 0.49 m (1 ft 7 in) tall.[1]

Ingenuity upper swashplate assembly
A – Rotor blade; B – Pitch link; C – Servo; D – Swashplate

The lower gravity of Mars (about a third of Earth's) only partially offsets the thinness of the 95% carbon dioxide atmosphere of Mars,[86] making it much harder for an aircraft to generate adequate lift. The planet's atmospheric density is about 1⁄100 that of Earth's at sea level, or about the same as 87,000 ft (27,000 m), an altitude never reached by existing helicopters. This density reduces even more in Martian winters. To keep Ingenuity aloft, its specially shaped blades of enlarged size must rotate between 2400 and 2900 rpm, or about 10 times faster[33] than what is needed on Earth.[87][88] Each of the helicopter's contra-rotating coaxial rotors are controlled by a separate swashplate that can affect both collective and cyclic pitch.[89] Although it is an aircraft, it was constructed to spacecraft specifications to endure the acceleration and vibrations during launch.[88]

Avionics

Ingenuity relies on different sensor packages grouped in two assemblies. All sensors are commercial off-the-shelf units.

Structural design of internal hardware of Ingenuity

The Upper Sensor Assembly, with associated vibration isolation elements, is mounted on the mast close to the vehicle's center-of-mass to minimize the effects of angular rates and accelerations. It consists of a cellphone-grade Bosch BMI-160 Inertial measurement unit (IMU); and an inclinometer (Murata SCA100T-D02), which is used only on the ground prior to flight to calibrate the IMU accelerometers biases. The Lower Sensor Assembly consists of an altimeter (Garmin LIDAR Lite v3), cameras, and a secondary IMU, all mounted directly on the Electronics Core Module (not on the mast).

Ingenuity has two cameras: a downward-looking black-and-white navigation camera (NAV), and a color camera, for terrain images for return to Earth (RTE).[27] As Mars's magnetic field precludes the use of a compass for navigation, the down-facing Omnivision OV7251 camera is used for visual odometry, where images are processed to produce navigation solutions that calculate the helicopter's position, velocity, attitude, and other variables.[27]

Ingenuity uses a 425×165 mm solar panel to recharge its batteries, which are six Sony Li-ion cells with 35–40 Wh (130–140 kJ) of energy capacity[43] (nameplate capacity of 2 Ah).[27] Flight duration is not constrained by the available power, but by the motors heating up 1 °C every second.[90] The helicopter uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with a Linux operating system.[64] Among other functions, it controls the visual navigation algorithm via a velocity estimate derived from terrain features tracked with the navigation camera.[91] The Qualcomm processor is connected to two radiation-resistant flight-control microcontroller units (MCUs) to perform necessary control functions under Mars's conditions.[27]

The telecommunication system consists of two identical radios with monopole antennae for data exchange between the helicopter and rover. The radio link utilizes the low-power Zigbee communication protocols, implemented via 914 MHz SiFlex 02 chipsets mounted in both vehicles. The communication system is designed to relay data at 250 kbit/s over distances of up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft).[92] The antenna on the helicopter's solar panel weighs 4 grams and can communicate equally in all directions.[93]

Cameras and photography

Ingenuity's two cameras

Ingenuity has two commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) cameras. The Sony IMX 214 with 4208 x 3120-pixel resolution is a color camera with a rolling shutter to make terrain images for return to Earth (RTE). The Omnivision OV7251 (640 × 480) VGA is the black and white global shutter navigation camera (NAV), which supplies the onboard computer of the helicopter with crucial raw data for flight control.[27]

The field of view of Ingenuity’s Return to Earth (RTE) camera is pointed diagonally downward, capturing a relatively narrow range from slightly above the horizon to roughly 40 degrees below. This narrow field-of-view allows the camera to take beautifully detailed images of the Martian surface but leaves little room for error in targeting. Since the helicopter’s attitude (yaw, pitch, roll) naturally fluctuates in response to external factors during flight, features near the boundaries of the planned image are often left outside the actual frame. Features that are far away are invariably near the horizon, and thus close to the edge of the camera’s frame and difficult to capture reliably.[94]

While the RTE color camera is not necessary for flights (as in flights 7 and 8[74]), the NAV camera works throughout each flight, catching the first frame before takeoff and the last frame after landing. Its frame rate is synchronized with blade rotation to ease online image processing.

During flight, all NAV frames must be carefully stored in the onboard helicopter computer, with each frame assigned the unique timestamp of its creation. The loss of a single NAV image timestamp was an anomaly that caused the helicopter to move erratically during flight 6.[69]

The monopole antenna of the base station is mounted on a bracket in the right rear part of the rover

The longer a flight lasts, the more NAV photos must be stored. The frequency and timing of the camera's operations are predetermined due to storage issues; however, a huge number of NAV files does not overload the local storage of the helicopter. Less than 200 NAV files are uploaded to NASA's storage after each flight (ever since the eighth one), with a volume of about five megabytes.[95] The limitations are imposed by weaknesses of local telecommunications; when landed, the helicopter relays data to the rover at a rate of 20 kbit/s.[27] Another setback is caused by the location of the antenna on the side of the rover. If it is turned to the wrong side to the helicopter, the rover body may impede signal reception.

The navigation camera has been programmed to deactivate whenever the rotorcraft is within 1 m (3.3 ft) of the surface. This helps ensure any dust kicked up during takeoff and landing will not interfere with the navigation system as it tracks features on the ground.[96]

Most of the NAV files are not transmitted to the rover base station for return to Earth. JPL explained that navigation images are used by Ingenuity's flight computer and then discarded unless controllers tell the helicopter to store them for later use.[59] Ingenuity captures navigation images at 30 frames per second and saves one image approximately every 700 milliseconds to be transmitted later to Earth and released to the public.[97] Out of more than 4000 NAV files acquired on flight four, only 62 were stored.[98]

Combination of two images, one each from Ingenuity's Navigation Camera and colour camera (RTE), taken while Ingenuity was on the ground.

With the end of the flight technology demonstration, Perseverance project manager Jennifer Trosper relinquished her team's responsibilities for photographing Ingenuity to concentrate exclusively on the rover science mission of searching for signs of ancient Martian life. Without pictures from the rover, the flight team relied heavily on photos taken by the helicopter NAV camera to confirm Ingenuity's location. The helicopter, however, does not create or refine the maps, but depends upon work coordinated by the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Science Center and performed by the NASA Mars and Lunar Cartography Working Groups.[citation needed]

Ingenuity shadow captured during flight 3

To support the Mars-2020 mission, USGS used photos by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to produce Context Camera (CTX) and Digital Terrain Models (DTM) and orthoimage mosaics. Those images were used by the Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN) on the Perseverance descent vehicle to determine the safest landing location.[99] Using maps created from photos and radar elevation data previously acquired by the MRO and other NASA missions, planetary cartographers manually correlate them with terrain features seen by Ingenuity's small and lens-distorted NAV images.[citation needed] After each NAV frame is assigned a georeference, the resulting flight maps are shown at NASA's Mars-2020 tracking service.[100] NAV frames from Ingenuity are also used to produce moving images that show the Martian terrain passing under Ingenuity during its flights.

In November 2021, the Ingenuity team started to supply scientists with new types of images — color photos taken on the ground during the inter-flight periods. By December, scientists had received two such photos, the first one acquired on November 15 (sol 263)[101] and another on November 27 (sol 274).

Unlike Perseverance, Ingenuity does not have a special stereo camera for taking twin photos for 3D pictures simultaneously. However, the helicopter has made such images by taking duplicate color photos of the same terrain while hovering in slightly offset positions, as in flight 11, or by taking an offset picture on the return leg of a roundtrip flight, as in flight 12.[102]

As of December 16, 2021, 2091 black-and-white images from the navigation camera[103] and 104 color images from the terrain camera (RTE)[104] have been published.

Count of stored images from both cameras per each flight[103]
Flight No. Date (UTC) and Mars 2020 mission sol Photographs Comments
b/w
NAV 		color
RTE
Before April 19, 2021 (sol 58) 6[105] 6[106] Preflight camera tests
1 April 19, 2021 (sol 58) 15 —
2 April 22, 2021 (sol 61) 17 3 The first color photo session
3 April 25, 2021 (sol 64) 24 4
4 April 30, 2021 (sol 69) 62 5
5 May 7, 2021 (sol 76) 128 6
6 May 23, 2021 (sol 91) 106 8
7 June 8, 2021 (sol 107) 72 0 RTE was turned off[74]
8 June 22, 2021 (sol 121) 186 0
9 July 5, 2021 (sol 133) 193 10
10 July 24, 2021 (sol 152) 190 10 Five pairs of color images of Raised Ridges taken to make anaglyphs.[75]
11 August 5, 2021 (sol 164) 194 10
12 August 16, 2021 (Sol 174) 197[95] 10 Five pairs of color images of Séítah taken to make anaglyphs.[71]
13 September 5, 2021 (Sol 193) 191[107] 10
September 16, 2021 (Sol 204) to October 23, 2021 (Sol 240) 9 1 preflight 14 tests
14 October 24, 2021 (Sol 241) 182 —
15 November 6, 2021 (Sol 254) 191 10
November 15, 2021 (Sol 263) — 1 ground color photo[101]
16 November 21, 2021 (Sol 268) 185 9
November 27, 2021 (Sol 274) — 1 ground color photo[101]
17 December 5, 2021 (Sol 282) 192 —
18 December 15, 2021 (Sol 292) 184 —
December 20, 2021 (Sol 297) to February 3, 2022 (Sol 341) 10 1 preflight 19 tests and post-dust storm debris removal operations
19 February 8, 2022 (Sol 346) 92 —
20 February 25, 2022 (Sol 362) 110 10
February 27, 2022 (Sol 364) — 1 preflight 21 tests
21 March 10, 2022 (Sol 375) 191 —

Flight software

Ingenuity's Hazard Avoidance Capability tested on Earth by post-processing flight 9 images

The helicopter uses autonomous control during its flights, which are telerobotically planned and scripted by operators at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It communicates with the Perseverance rover directly before and after each landing.[45]: 1:20:38–1:22:20 

Before Flight 34, the operations team has been at work installing a 4th major software update aboard the helicopter. This update provides Ingenuity two major new capabilities: hazard avoidance when landing and the use of digital elevation maps to help navigate.

Ingenuity was developed as a technology demonstration and designed to operate on Mars in flat, smooth terrain like that at Wright Brothers Field. As Ingenuity moved on to exploring Jezero Crater alongside the Perseverance rover, it traveled through more challenging terrain than the team had ever anticipated.

In prior flights, Ingenuity's pilots have needed to find airfields free of any rocks or other obstacles that could potentially damage the vehicle when landing. Jezero Crater is rocky, meaning safe airfields have been tough to find. Using Ingenuity's downward-facing navigation camera, this software update adds hazard avoidance on landing to work like Hazard Avoidance Cameras on the rover. While in flight, Ingenuity will identify the safest visible landing site. When preparing to land, Ingenuity will then divert over to this selected site. This capability allows Ingenuity to safely land in rockier terrain than before, providing pilots with many more potential landing sites.

Ingenuity's navigation software was designed to assume the vehicle was flying over flat terrain. When the helicopter is flying over terrain like hills, this flat-ground assumption causes Ingenuity’s navigation software to think the vehicle is veering, causing it to start actually veering in an attempt to counter the error. Over long flights, navigation errors caused by rough terrain must be accounted for, requiring the team to select large airfields. This new software update corrects this flat-ground assumption by using digital elevation maps of Jezero Crater to help the navigation software distinguish between changes in terrain and vehicle movement. This increases Ingenuity’s accuracy, allowing the pilots to target smaller airfields going forward.[108]

Specifications

Flight characteristics of Ingenuity
Rotor speed 2400–2700 rpm[1][49][109]
Blade tip speed <0.7 Mach[48]
Originally planned operational time 1 to 5 flights within 30 sols[1][2]
Flight time Up to 167 seconds per flight[110]
Maximum range, flight 704 m (2,310 ft)
Maximum range, radio 1,000 m (3,300 ft)[27]
Maximum altitude 12 m (39 ft)
Maximum possible speed
  • Horizontal: 10 m/s (33 ft/s)[10]
  • Vertical: 3 m/s (9.8 ft/s)[10]
Battery capacity 35–40 Wh (130–140 kJ)[43]

Operational history

Main article: List of Ingenuity flights

The Ingenuity helicopter was originally intended to fly up to five times during a 30-day test campaign, early in the rover's mission.[1][12]

Primary mission

Ingenuity hanging from the belly of the Perseverance rover during deployment to the Martian surface

Perseverance dropped the debris shield protecting Ingenuity on March 21, 2021, and the helicopter deployed from the underside of the rover to the martian surface on April 3, 2021.[111] That day both cameras of the helicopter were tested taking their first b/w and color photos of the floor of Jezero Crater in the shadow of the rover.[112][106] After deployment, the rover drove approximately 100 m (330 ft) away from the drone to allow a safe flying zone.[4][5]

Ingenuity's rotor blades were successfully unlocked on April 8, 2021, (mission sol 48), and the helicopter performed a low-speed rotor spin test at 50 rpm.[113][114][115][116][117]

A high-speed spin test was attempted on April 9, but failed due to the expiration of a watchdog timer, a software measure to protect the helicopter from incorrect operation in unforeseen conditions.[118] On April 12, JPL said it identified a software fix to correct the problem.[17] To save time, however, JPL decided to use a workaround procedure, which managers said had an 85% chance of succeeding and would be "the least disruptive" to the helicopter. [57]

On April 16, 2021, Ingenuity successfully passed the full-speed 2400 rpm rotor spin test while remaining on the surface. [119][19] Three days later, April 19, JPL flew the helicopter for the first time. The watchdog timer problem occurred again when the fourth flight was attempted. The team rescheduled the flight, which succeeded on April 30. On June 25, JPL said it had uploaded a software update the previous week to permanently fix the watchdog problem, and that a rotor spin test and the eighth flight confirmed that the update worked.[74]

Each flight was planned for altitudes ranging 3–5 m (10–16 ft) above the ground, though Ingenuity soon exceeded that planned height.[1] The first flight was a hover at an altitude of 3 m (9.8 ft), lasting about 40 seconds and including taking a picture of the rover. The first flight succeeded, and subsequent flights were increasingly ambitious as allotted time for operating the helicopter dwindled. JPL said the mission might even stop before the 30-day period ended, in the likely event that the helicopter crashed,[45]: 0:49:50–0:51:40  an outcome which did not occur. In up to 90 seconds per flight, Ingenuity could travel as far as 50 m (160 ft) downrange and then back to the starting area, though that goal was also soon exceeded with the fourth flight.[1][59]

After the successful first three flights, the objective was changed from technology demonstration to operational demonstration. Ingenuity flew through a transitional phase of two flights, flight 4 and 5 before transitioning to its operations demonstration phase.[120]

Operations Demo Phase

Just prior to the final demonstration flight, on April 30, 2021, NASA allocated funding to continue the operation of Ingenuity for an “operational demonstration phase” to explore using a helicopter as supplementary reconnaissance for ground assets like Perseverance.[120] Funding for Ingenuity is regularly renewed on a monthly basis.[121]

Starting with the 6th flight, the mission goal shifted towards supporting the rover science mission by mapping and scouting the terrain.[122] While Ingenuity would do more to help Perseverance, the rover would pay less attention to the helicopter and stop taking pictures of it in flight. JPL managers said the photo procedure took an "enormous" amount of time, slowing the project's main mission of looking for signs of ancient life.[123] On 30 April 2021, the fourth flight successfully captured numerous color photos and explored the surface with its black-and-white navigation camera.[59] On May 7, Ingenuity successfully flew to a new landing site.

Total Ingenuity flightpath after flight 51, 23 April 2023

[124]

After 12 flights by September 2021, the mission was extended indefinitely.[125] After 21 flights by March 2022, NASA said it would continue flying Ingenuity until at least the coming September. The area of the helicopter's next goal is more rugged than the relatively flat terrain it flew over in its first year of operation. The ancient fan-shaped river delta has jagged cliffs, angled surfaces and projecting boulders. Ingenuity will help the mission team decide which route Perseverance should take to the top of the delta and may aid in analyzing potential science targets. Software updates will eliminate the helicopter's 50-foot altitude limit, allow it to change speed in flight, and improve its understanding of terrain texture below it. NASA associate administrator Thomas Zurbuchen said less than a year earlier "we didn't even know if powered, controlled flight of an aircraft at Mars was possible." He said the transformation in understanding what the aircraft can do is "one of the most historic in the annals of air and space exploration."[28]

The Ingenuity team plans to fly the helicopter every two to three weeks during its indefinitely extended mission.[125] The helicopter's longer-than-expected flying career lasted into a seasonal change on Mars, when the atmospheric density at its location became even lower. The flight team prepared by commanding Ingenuity to ground test a faster rotor blade rotation, needed for sufficient lift. JPL said the higher planned flight speed of 2700 rpm would pose new risks, including vibration, power consumption and aerodynamic drag if the blade tips approach the speed of sound.[109] The test speed was 2800 rpm, giving a margin for increase if the intended flight speed of 2700 is not enough. Ingenuity faced another challenge to remain functional during the Martian winter and solar conjunction, when Mars moves behind the Sun, blocking communications with Earth and forcing the rover and helicopter to halt operations. The shutdown happened in mid-October 2021, for which preparations started in mid-September.[120][126] The helicopter remained stationary at its location 175 meters (575 feet) away from Perseverance and communicated its status weekly to the rover for health checks.[127] JPL intended to continue flying Ingenuity since it survived solar conjunction.[128][129] NASA leadership has stated that extending the mission will increase the project's expenses, but that they believe the cost to be worthwhile for the information learned.[130]

The start time of a flight is chosen depending on temperature management of the batteries, which need to warm up after the night. During Martian summer lower air density imposed a higher load on the motors, so flights were shifted from noon (LMST 12:30) to morning (LMST 9:30) and limited to 130 seconds to not overheat the motors.[131]

On May 3 and 4, 2022, for the first time in the mission, the helicopter unexpectedly failed to communicate with the rover, following the 28th flight on April 29.[132] JPL determined that Ingenuity's rechargeable batteries suffered a power drop or insufficient battery state-of-charge (SOC) while going into the night, most likely because of a seasonal increase in atmospheric dust reducing sunshine on its solar panel and due to lower temperatures as winter approached. When the battery pack's state of charge dropped below a lower limit, the helicopter's field-programmable gate array (FPGA) powered down, resetting the mission clock, which lost sync with the base station on the rover. Contact was re-established on May 5. Controllers decided to turn off the helicopter's heaters at night to conserve power, accepting the risk of exposing components to nighttime's extreme cold.[133] This daily SOC deficit is likely to persist for the duration of Martian winter (at least until September/October). Each sol could be Ingenuity's last.[132]

In a June 6, 2022, update, JPL reported Ingenuity's inclination sensor had stopped working. Its purpose was to determine the helicopter's orientation at the start of each flight. Mission controllers developed a workaround using the craft's inertial measurement unit (IMU) to provide equivalent data to the onboard navigation computer.[134]

In January 2023, the helicopter began to have enough solar power to avoid overnight brownouts and FPGA resets due to the start of Martian spring.[85] This means the helicopter will be able to fly more frequently and over longer distances.

In March 2023, the helicopter made frequent flights to deal with limited radio range in the rough terrain of the Jezero delta. In the narrow canyons of the river delta it's impossible to pass the rover without violating the wide keep out zone.[84]

Follow-on missions and future work

There are currently no plans to send Curiosity/Perseverance-class scientific laboratories to Mars, and funding for Martian projects is frozen to the level necessary to complete the Mars sample-return campaign.[135]

Sample Return Helicopter

Sample Return Helicopter, based on Ingenuity

The idea of future Martian helicopters has been proposed. In March 2022, AeroVironment engineers, who previously created Ingenuity, presented the concept of a new helicopter with a payload of 280 g. A 90 g small manipulator arm with a two-fingered gripper and a self-propelled landing gear make it possible to use vehicles of this type instead of a fetch rover[136] to select sample tubes cases with samples collected by Perseverance.[137] At a briefing on September 15, 2022, NASA Planetary Science Division Director Laurie Gleizes confirmed her intention to use two of these helicopters.[138]

The choice of Ingenuity as the prototype for the intended pair of assembler helicopters was based on the impressive safety margin built into it by AeroVironment designers. In principle, even the limit of 100 landings for the high-wear shock absorbers of the chassis is sufficient to transfer all 43 sleeves. Multiple small payloads can be carried by these types of helicopters, deployed and re-deployed to various locations, to perform a variety of distributed and networked operations.[139]

Inertial navigation was one of the main challenges on Mars for the Ingenuity. The helicopter needs to show the ability to accurately follow the track it has already "mapped" on previously collected NAV frame sets and land at the takeoff point. In a future sample return mission, each cartridge case would require a pair of flights ending at the point of departure. Landing accuracy was an assigned task of Ingenuity's 31st flight.[140] The very thin atmosphere of Mars does not allow repeating the maneuvers and landing techniques of terrestrial helicopters.[141][31]

Mars Science Helicopter

Mars Science Helicopter, Ingenuity's proposed successor

Data collected by Ingenuity is intended to support the development of future helicopters capable of carrying larger payloads.[142][39][27][143]

Tributes to the Wright brothers

NASA and JPL officials described the first Mars Ingenuity helicopter flight as their "Wright Brothers moment", by analogy to the first successful powered airplane flight on Earth.[144][145] A small piece of the wing cloth from the Wright brothers' 1903 Wright Flyer is attached to a cable underneath Ingenuity's solar panel.[15] In 1969, Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong carried a similar Wright Flyer artifact to the Moon in the Lunar Module Eagle.

NASA named Ingenuity's first take-off and landing airstrip Wright Brothers Field, which the UN agency ICAO gave an airport code of JZRO for Jezero Crater,[146] and the drone itself a type designator of IGY, call-sign INGENUITY.[147][148][146]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Flights 1, 2 and 14 are not seen because they include little, if any, horizontal movement.

References

Citations

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Status reports

External links