Sky & Telescope - August 2022 - 16

Liftoff
Notable Firsts
John Stringfellow's " Bat "
DATE: June 1848
LOCATION: Chard, England
FUEL: steam
DURATION: unknown
CRAFT WINGSPAN: 3 m (10 ft)
CLAIM TO FAME:
first powered flight
Wright Flyer
DATE: Dec. 17, 1903
LOCATION: Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
FUEL: gasoline
DURATION: 12 seconds
CRAFT WINGSPAN: 12.3 m (40.3 ft)
CLAIM TO FAME:
first crewed powered flight
panels that the heli wears like a stationary hat on top of the
rotors. The heli's small, omnidirectional radio antenna is
mounted atop the solar panel. The entire vehicle has a mass
of only about 1.8 kg (4 pounds), which weighs around the
same on Mars as a 28-ounce can of tomato sauce does in
your kitchen cupboard.
Once completed, the helicopter was carefully folded up,
origami-like, and stowed on the underside of the rover's body
in August of 2019. A lightweight, deployable debris shield
covered it to protect it from the spray of pebbles and dust
expected to be kicked up by the descent system's exhaust
plumes during landing.
All the scout needed now was a name. In April of 2020,
just three months before launch, Alabama high school
student Vaneeza Rupani won NASA's nationwide contest to
name the helicopter. She proposed Ingenuity. As she wrote in
her contest entry, " Ingenuity is what allows people to accomplish
amazing things, and it allows us to expand our horizons
to the edges of the universe. "
Fingers Crossed
Perseverance and Ingenuity launched on an Atlas V rocket
from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on July 30,
Ingenuity Helicopter
DATE: Apr. 19, 2021
LOCATION: Jezero, Nili Fossae region
FUEL: solar
DURATION: 39 seconds
CRAFT WINGSPAN: 1.21 m (3.97 ft)
CLAIM TO FAME:
first powered flight on Mars
2020. After an uneventful cruise, the pair made a safe, gentle
landing on the rocky and sandy floor of Jezero Crater on
February 18, 2021. The fact that much of the final assembly,
testing, and launch activities, as well as the preparations and
practice for all operations on Mars, proceeded - in NASA
speak - " nominally " while the world was in the grips of the
COVID-19 pandemic is a true testament to the dedication
and professionalism of the many thousands of people who
made it all happen.
Once on the ground, the Perseverance rover team set about
assessing the geological and environmental characteristics of
the landing site and testing the rover's systems. The Ingenuity
team, meanwhile, spent the early mission days working
with rover scientists and engineers to identify a safe, footballfield-sized
" airfield " where the initial heli flights could be
conducted. The Mastcam-Z team, which I lead as principal
investigator along with Justin as deputy PI, eagerly participated
in the photographic hunt for the right place to fly.
Perseverance's Octavia E. Butler landing site is in a
relatively flat part of the crater floor. Using orbiter and rover
images, the teams identified a nearby area that was large and
rock-free enough to serve as a safe airfield. After checking
out the rover's wheels and other systems needed for driving,
Perseverance headed out. Along the way, the rover dropped
the heli's protective debris shield onto the ground and took
inspection photos of the folded-up helicopter using the
arm-mounted WATSON camera. Once the rover arrived at
the airfield, the teams began the many-sols process of slowly
unstowing the helicopter and then gently dropping it the
remaining 10 cm (4 in) to the surface. On April 3, 2021,
Ingenuity finally " landed " on Mars.
But echoes of " not yet, not yet . . . " were still coming from
SHIELDS DOWN Perseverance dropped the debris shield protecting
Ingenuity on March 21, 2021, and peeked under itself with the WATSON
camera on its robotic arm to take this image.
16 AUGUST 2022 * SKY & TELESCOPE
MiMi and the helicopter team. There were still many steps to
perform and systems to check out, including unlocking and
testing the rotor blades and testing the communications link
with the rover. While the heli team worked to inspect their
little aircraft, the rover team moved Perseverance to a viewing
location on a rocky plain about 70 meters away - close
enough to take good images of Ingenuity using the rover's
high-resolution Mastcam-Z cameras, yet a safe enough distance
away in case of a flight mishap. The rover would spend
several weeks exploring this area - named Van Zyl Overlook,
NASA / JPL-CALTECH / MSSS
Sky & Telescope - August 2022

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