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Posted

Funny how they're doing play-by-play for an event that had already been successful or a failure. 

I thought the bouncing landing was fairly cool but having a rocket drone gently lower the rover is definitely better.

I'm looking forward to the helicopter drone mission.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

How much bigger do the rotors have to be to generate lift in the Martian atmosphere? I remember reading that one of the few things that wasn't really accurate in The Martian was that a dust storm couldn't really generate enough power to do much damage, but that the author needed something to use to move the plot forward.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
On 3/22/2021 at 9:27 PM, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

How much bigger do the rotors have to be to generate lift in the Martian atmosphere? I remember reading that one of the few things that wasn't really accurate in The Martian was that a dust storm couldn't really generate enough power to do much damage, but that the author needed something to use to move the plot forward.

They compensated with extremely high RPM. 

Posted
On 3/22/2021 at 9:27 PM, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

How much bigger do the rotors have to be to generate lift in the Martian atmosphere? I remember reading that one of the few things that wasn't really accurate in The Martian was that a dust storm couldn't really generate enough power to do much damage, but that the author needed something to use to move the plot forward.

Here's some video of the helicopter being developed.  Hard to tell how big the rotors are, but you get the general idea.  At one point they tell it to climb to 1 meter and from that it looks like the rotors are maybe a meter across.

 

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Posted
8 minutes ago, Texas Jeff said:

Here's some video of the helicopter being developed.  Hard to tell how big the rotors are, but you get the general idea.  At one point they tell it to climb to 1 meter and from that it looks like the rotors are maybe a meter across.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingenuity_(helicopter)

According to this, the rotors are 1.2 meters in diameter (good eye). 

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Posted
32 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

How long till we get a glimpse of a martian doing this?

200w.gif?cid=82a1493b4bg8ybsp70l5e72xp0l

We would have the whole planet scouted already if they had managed to load this bad boy on the rocket.  Plus Marvin Martian would be running scared

Airwolf-In-Brittany-600x476.jpg

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Posted
Quote

NASA has delayed the first flight of its Mars helicopter Ingenuity after the vehicle's last test ended earlier than planned.

 

Ingenuity will now remain planted firmly on the Red Planet's surface until at least Wednesday (April 14), according to a statement from the agency. The delay comes in response to an anomaly during a test that was meant to see the helicopters blades reach flight-like speeds of 2,400 revolutions per minute.

 

"During a high-speed spin test of the rotors on Friday, the command sequence controlling the test ended early due to a 'watchdog' timer expiration," NASA officials wrote in a statement today (April 10). "This occurred as it was trying to transition the flight computer from 'Pre-Flight' to 'Flight' mode. The helicopter is safe and healthy and communicated its full telemetry set to Earth."

 

https://www.space.com/nasa-mars-helicopter-flight-delay

 

 

960x0.gif?fit=scale

Posted (edited)

It's not the most compelling viewing so far, but they've downloaded a shitload the data including at least one photo. 

Edit: They confirmed a successful first flight.

Edited by bolverk
  • Like 1
Posted
On 4/19/2021 at 7:22 AM, Bookman said:

Super cool. Pretty cool to land a drone 40 million miles away and actually have it work.

I gave it a fairly decent chance of failure but very exciting how this opens/speeds up future exploration of Mars.

  • Like 1
Posted
4 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I gave it a fairly decent chance of failure but very exciting how this opens/speeds up future exploration of Mars. the soundstage masquerading as Mars

17d330cc21131ec7ebd006dcd37767bc.jpg

Posted
10 hours ago, Doc Reeves said:

Well, that's something, isn't it?  That opens up the entire possibility of landing astronauts without needing to bring all their oxygen from Earth.  And, ultimately, it raises the possibility of terraforming Mars.

I wonder if we're talking about using this technology to combat global warming here on Earth.  I don't think I've heard much about that.

  • Like 1
Posted

Ingenuity took a piece of the Wright Flyer and flew it over Mars. Twice, so far.  Incredible.

nbcnews

 

Quote

The success came just three days after Ingenuity made the first powered flight by an aircraft on another planet. The helicopter carried a bit of wing fabric from the Wright Flyer that made similar history at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903.

 

Posted
On 4/22/2021 at 5:29 PM, Ghost of LL said:

Well, that's something, isn't it?  That opens up the entire possibility of landing astronauts without needing to bring all their oxygen from Earth.  And, ultimately, it raises the possibility of terraforming Mars.

I wonder if we're talking about using this technology to combat global warming here on Earth.  I don't think I've heard much about that.

Maybe the first step to begin terraforming the planet for human habitation.

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