According to the official press release of the National Aeronautics and Space Research, the USA (NASA), preparation for the first flight is in full swing. It is scheduled for the beginning of April - not earlier than the eighth. But the time is not much, as it seems: In addition to the way to the "flight field", which took a couple of days, the process of resetting the helicopter will last for almost a week. And then after that, engineers on Earth have to conduct a series of checks of all Ingenuity systems.
On Tuesday, March 23, in the official Twitter account of the Perseverance, acknowledgment of the helicopter's protective cover appeared. The entry was accompanied by a snapshot of the housing of a complex shape made of carbon fiber, which lies on the surface of Mars, under the bottom of the rover. The snapshot series was made using a Sherloc camera placed on a robot manipulator. Above the already unnecessary lid is visible and rotated by the Ingenuity side - it is still in the transport configuration.
So, at the time of writing this news, the mercier is already moving towards the carefully selected site on the surface of the red planet. This is a square area with a side of ten meters, smooth and free from natural obstacles. The road to it will take a couple of days. Then Perseverance will again check the state of the helicopter "under the belly", and the multi-step process of unloading ingenuity will begin. It will last at least six hotels (Martian days), in each of which robots will perform a number of teams, and then send a report to Earth and wait for its analysis by engineers:
- First, it will be unlocking the fastening of the helicopter to the rover by the controlled destruction of the fixing bolt;
- The next salt will work the pyropatron, holding the fastener lever to the elastic cable - the helicopter will throw back from the bottom of the Rover by about 45 degrees, and the first two of its legs will decompose;
- Next, the small electric motor will complete the rotation of the Ingenuity under the bottom of the Perseverance in a vertical position, now the helicopter is at a distance of only 13 centimeters over the soil;
- On the fifth salt, another two supports of the Ingenuity will occur and the final test of its condition before separating from the Marshode - now they connect only one bolt and two dozen thin wiring; This step is the most exciting one - it will happen the last charge of the helicopter batteries from the side network Perseverance, then he will have to eat only from his own small solar panel;
- In the sixth, the last Salu Operation The helicopter will reset to the ground, and the rover should immediately drive up about five meters back to the sunny battery in Ingenuity, for the first time after testing and assembly on Earth, the light fell.
Each of the above stages team mission will be monitored thanks to the pictures. The result that everyone expects: Ingenuity Four with its thin legs stands on the Martian surface, clearly visible to the lenses of the Perseverance navigation chambers. After separation from the Marshode, the helicopter will have 30 nights for the fulfillment of the only task - flight. This does not mean that after the expiration of the film, the flying robot will turn off: just for a longer work, the technology demonstrator was not calculated. As you know from the experience, created in Jet Propulsion Lab Technique often exceeds the "warranty mileage", but there is never confidence.
The first days of their "independent" life, robotic Martian researchers will spend by setting the data channel between each other and sending telemetry to the Earth. Perseverance should send photos (and, perhaps a video) of a helicopter from all sides, as well as transfer the results of independent checks of all systems received from it. As soon as engineers are convicted that everything is in order, Ingenuity will get the team to promote their screws - while not at full speed, so as not to take off.
Given the above described procedures for the "landing" of the first extraterrestrial helicopter, one can safely assume that all subsequent operations will also take a lot of time. Earlier, on April 8, it is not worth waiting for the flight, and this date may not be final.
Source: Naked Science